Newton’s First Law of Motion states than an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.
When you are sitting on your butt doing nothing, you will find that it is very easy to continue to do so, and the longer you stay that way, the more effort it takes to change out of that mental state and get your butt into motion. It’s like people who decide to take a break after high school or college before continuing their education. Of course it’s important to take breaks, but if the break is too long, it becomes too difficult to get going again. 1 year off becomes 2 years. 2 years rolls into 3 until one day they’ve forgotten their original intentions.
On the other hand, when you are in motion, it doesn’t really take much for you to continue that way. Like a steam locomotive that has already overcome the initial energy requirement to lurch forward, only a small but steady amount of fuel needs to be added to keep your wheels chugging along. It’s like going to the gym 3 days in a row. By the 4th day, it’s actually easy to go to the gym. It’s easy to work out and get fit. It’s easy because you have already shifted gears and you are well on your way to forming a habit.
I have had some people complain that the writing for my blog is not steady, that it comes in fits and starts. This is a valid and true observation. There are some days where I will not even sign into my blog. There have also been days where I will work on my blog for 6 hours straight. When that happens, I find it easier to write the next day, and even easier the following day. At one point, I was on such a roll that I was able to write an entire poem in a minute and a half. The devil is when an outside force knocks me out of that nice little groove I’ve created. It could be a vacation, a personal matter, a work issue, whatever it is, it’s no excuse. But the point I’m trying to make is that I have heretofore had some difficulty keeping up with my writing because of 2 mistakes that I have been making.
1. My life has been way too complex. That is to say, I have allowed too many “outside forces” the chance to distract me and push me off course.
So I am now paring down my engagements, some of which are incredibly painful to let go of, but I am committed to doing it in order to concentrate my mental focus.
2. I mistakenly believed that I should only work on one facet of my life at a time. Is it going to be working out? Cooking and eating healthy foods? My career and business plan? My social life? My romantic life? My family life?
No, I was wrong. It is actually possible to work on every important aspect of your life at the same time. Once you’ve formed a habit of something, it feels natural and in some ways easier to just continue to do it. You just have to make sure that the endeavors you have decided to undertake are real priorities that enrich your life rather than extraneous distractions that will lead your focus astray.
Once you have managed to build momentum, don’t let go of it. Don’t stop shoveling coal into that boiler. Use that momentum to plow through roadblocks in other areas of your life. Get that train going, ride it, and don’t ever stop moving.
Spoken like a true writer! :)
Why thank you :)
Due to real life I ceased blogging for a month, I came back and it was hard to get the momentum back, however now I find it easy. Human body and brain is designed for activity, the consequence of inactivity is decay then death.
Yeah, the default state of a human being is death and decay, aka entropy. If you are going to continue to invest in something, like blogging, you need to be clear as to why you’re doing it. For me, I love the process of improving my writing, exploring my thoughts, and expanding my sense of reality. Oh, and clarity. Writing gives my thoughts and actions clarity. Amazing clarity.