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Use Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion to Boost Your Motivation
It turns out that much of our burnout can be explained by centuries-old theories
In 1687, Sir Isaac Newton wrote The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy and changed the way the world would look at gravity for the foreseeable future. He dropped the mic (or in this case, the apple) with his groundbreaking theories on gravity and the laws of motion.
For no apparent reason, I began getting nerdy about physics a few months ago, watching online videos about friction, momentum, and gravity. I didn’t really know what I was looking for…until I found it.
As a parent of a young child who’s working morning, noon, and night to get two businesses up and running, I’m often exhausted and overwhelmed. When I came upon Newton’s three laws of motion, though, I found the motivation I needed to keep working.
While Newton’s three laws of motion apply to the movement of physical objects (pushing a rock up a hill, etc.), I found direct correlations to my starting two businesses. Newton’s laws applied to the relationship between the acceleration of an object and the force applied to it. In my case, the object was my businesses, the force was how much effort I put into them, and the acceleration was how quickly they would gain traction. I realized — whether it’s scientifically sound or not— these theories could potentially help explain, and even help me overcome, my current entrepreneurial burnout.
I suspect I might not be the only one who experiences dips in motivation from time to time, so I hope that a little dive into these theories might inspire a few of you as well.
Newton’s first law of motion
“An object will remain at rest or in a uniform state of motion unless that state is changed by an external force.”
So, if I lay on the sofa with a tube of BBQ Pringles watching Billions on Amazon Prime, my a-double-s-s will stay there unless my phone rings, I have to pee, or my husband comes home. Totally makes sense. It’s all about inertia.
Similarly, if I apply this law of motion to my professional life, I see that my business won’t build itself. My tendency is to want to set…
