The Force of Inertia
What being stuck in a crowd taught me about getting to where I really want to go.
Years ago my wife ran her first marathon in Chicago.
I did the 5k.
She’s a much better runner than me. And tougher.
She’s pretty fast too. She finished in 3:45, and she told me she had to wait over 10 minutes at one point for a porta-potty.
After I finished my 5k, I sauntered around a bit until I could head over to the finish line to be there when she came through.
I was really excited to be there and see her cross the line. I was carrying one of those thin silver blanket things. I wasn’t clear on exactly what it did, but she had one in her goodie bag, so I grabbed it. I‘d seen people wrap themselves in them after a long race, so I was looking forward to wrapping my wife in one. As if I contributed to her accomplishment somehow. What a hero.
Heading over, I walked face-first into a huge crowd. And the crowd wasn’t moving.
I was patient for a bit, but then I realized I might miss her finish. My chance to wrap her in a silver blanket was slipping through my fingers.
So I started weaving my way through. At a couple of points I gave a gentle nudge to push people forward.
That pissed a few people off. Like seriously pissed. I still remember one woman yelling right in my face.
What was painfully obvious to me was that the only way to move forward was to push the people ahead of me to move forward. The only reason we were stopped, was because everyone assumed that we needed to stop. But if we just all started moving, we would all move.
I tried to explain that to the woman yelling at me, but rationality had completely escaped her.
This is the force of inertia.
This is the force that keeps us from moving. The force that limits us from asking someone out, or applying for that job or working harder to make something better. It’s the force that keeps us from making the difficult choices that would make our lives better.
The force of inertia is what limits us from asking someone out, or applying for that job or working harder to make something better. It’s the force that keeps us from making the difficult choices that would make our lives better.
All those amazing ideas you have? All those incredible things that will transform your business/life/body shape? Unless you push really, really hard against it, the force of inertia will keep you right where you are. Doing the same things you’ve always done.
To move in a new direction, or to move at all, often takes serious pushing. Pushing that is guaranteed not to make everyone happy. Pushing that at first is really, really uncomfortable to do.
But once you start pushing, the force of inertia starts working for you. The first part is the hardest. But once you push through it, you gain momentum and before you know it you’re on the path to getting what you want.
The less resistant path is the easy choice. Actually, it’s really no path at all. In it, you’re stuck with everyone else in a long line going nowhere.
The more resistant path is the hard way. It means making a tough decision to push into, and through, discomfort and awkwardness. Waiting for you on the other side are the things you’re striving for. Change, transformation, and in my case, wrapping my wife in a silver blanket after she finished her first marathon.
About me: I’m a Partner/Creative Director at Teak in San Francisco. I’m from Colorado, moved to Chicago for 8 years then settled down in San Anselmo, California (the birthplace of mountain biking) with my wife to raise two amazing kids. I’m a huge fan of the Chicago Cubs, Denver Broncos and Peet’s Coffee.
