The Law of Inertia: things in motion stay in motion

Life's rhythm is made up of starts and stops

“You create opportunities when you move the ball around, not when you keep it in front of your feet. Don’t just noodle around by yourself. Pass it around.” One of the parents for my son’s soccer team was calling to their kid from the sidelines during a warm summer game last year. I heard the coach add, “Move the ball, get feedback, do something.”

Keep moving. Get feedback. Do something…

Things in motion stay in motion

I’ve been thinking about the rhythm of life and the starts and stops that are a part of it. And how difficult the transition from start to stop and stop to start can feel.

Have you ever had the experience of integrating new habits and routines into your life and how it becomes easier and easier as you go along? Until something happens...Like when you finally got back into the rhythm with a workout routine or another new habit and then, boom, you get sick. Or a trip means you fall off the wagon completely and it feels impossible to find your way back. When I question the sometimes-abrupt tempo changes, usually caused by some external event like that, I think about the law of inertia: objects in motion want to stay in motion, and objects at rest remain at rest unless acted upon by an external force.

External forces stop momentum. How do we get back on track?

External forces impact forward momentum or cause slowdowns, or sometimes, a complete stop. For me, some personal examples that come to mind are the experience of being laid off. (phew, that was a big one!) But also, things like personal development sessions that stopped me in my tracks. (Can we briefly pause to appreciate how amazing language is? “falling off the wagon”, “stopped in your tracks”…)

The other day, I found an old journal entry from my birthday two years ago—my last birthday still on the traditional career path (or B.P.P.—Before Pathless Path ). This reflection was triggered by a personal development session I attended, which was a big part of the forces that stopped the inertia of my “traditional career progression."

“Yesterday, I joined the Frontline Ethics masterclass from Studio D with Jan Chipchase, and as expected, it was a great session. A small group and lots of good content, conversation, and helpful frameworks. The conversation, activities, and reflections were yet another drop in the bucket for me wanting to desperately do something more meaningful and get out of my current job. I miss being “out in the field” doing the work; I’m sick of all the corporate and managerial bullshit. I miss working in teams that I feel connected to in some way. I’m sick of the large, lonely organizations. I miss adventure, including at work. I am sick of the boring, everyday 30-minute-slot schedule filled with meetings and admin tasks. I miss culture, and humans, and connection, and being drunk on curiosity.”

And of course sickness can really interrupt things in motion too.

I understand the importance of cementing a little every day, and I also believe that we see what we aim at... I think that this past year, a focus on physical and mental health and having a better daily routine has helped. I have also started taking small steps towards new projects, but inevitably, someone gets sick and it interrupts our schedules and routines so completely that it feels like everything is on pause. Somehow, when this happens, it feels so much harder to start the momentum and efforts back up.”

The law of inertia says things stay in motion or stay at rest; external forces can change that. So how do we start back up? How do we get moving again?

Intrinsic motivation is the force needed to overcome inertia. Of course, these can be triggered by external forces like encouragement from a friend or an inspirational story we read about. But internal forces are required to start putting ourselves back in motion and “get back on track.” When we are in tune with our intuition and our inner selves, our curiosities, and our principles, we are propelled forward by it.

Or maybe we find the courage to accept that we have been moving in the wrong direction, and we slow down to stop the forward momentum. To stop and be at rest.

Finding my tempo: a rhythm of starts and stops

Patterns of movement and rest. Ups and downs. Undulations. The rhythm of life. Different phases with different tempos.

If you have read my writing before, you know that 'I'm a huge fan of metaphors, and especially layering multiple metaphors on top of one another. For the longest time, I fought it, because I thought I needed to choose one for the sake of clarity and simplicity. But I have found that using multiple metaphors helps in communicating my constantly evolving understanding and the interconnectedness and complexity of these concepts. And inviting others into our messes).

In music theory, rhythm and tempo are essential elements that work together to create the overall structure and feel of a piece. Rhythm is defined as “the pattern of sounds in time, or the placement of beats in a regular and repeated pattern. Rhythm can be simple or complex, and it often varies throughout a piece.” And tempo as “the speed at which a piece of music is performed and it contributes to the overall feel of the music, such as whether it is exciting, sad, or relaxing.”

The rhythm, the patterns, and the habits of our lives create the structure for our lives. The tempo creates the feel for certain phases and stages… Sometimes abrupt tempo changes can be jarring and uncomfortable in the moment, especially when you focus your attention on the interruption in isolation. But, when you let the rhythm carry you, they become part of a beautiful, complete piece.

Discomfort is part of overcoming fears, growing into new phases of life, and moving forward. And usually that first step is the hardest. “Keep moving to get feedback. Do something.” What great advice from the sidelines of a kids soccer match! Action is information. Do something—even if doing something is stopping movement in the wrong direction. There is a Japanese proverb that says: “If you get on the wrong train, get off at the next nearest station as soon as you realize it. The longer it takes you to get off, the more expensive the return trip will be.”

The fear of complacency is valid. The lure of comfort is real.

Another entry from a long winter as I started settling into a “calmer” phase:

I’ve been thinking about how it seems normal for many of us to get worried when things are “going too well"—we worry that something is clearly going to have to go wrong because things can’t always be “this calm”. I do have those feelings sometimes.
But lately I’ve been grappling with the tension between courage and comfort, with the fact that often great things—learning, growth—come from the moments of discomfort, from loss, from struggles. And there is this weird fear that if I'm too comfortable, in this town, in my spot, in this phase... will I become complacent? Will the comfort suck me in? Will I lose the courage to push into the unknown, to take on discomfort, loss, and struggle for the sake of the unknown? For the sake of forward momentum?

When I was in that moment, I feared that inertia would defeat me this time—that a body at rest will stay at rest. And the fear of complacency is valid, and the lure of comfort is real. But when I look back at it now, I simply see it as another tempo change, a part of the natural rhythm of life.

There is recognition that if I am attuned to my internal drivers and receptive to external forces, I will continue the dance of start and stop. I will be able to ride the waves of undulation. I will leverage the law of inertia to keep me moving forward once in motion... and sometimes, to stay at rest when at rest.

Until it’s time for the next tempo change and a new rhythm.

For now,
Enjoying the rhythm and the dance

P.S. A song from the masters of tempo changes: