Inertia and Rest

Behavioral inertia: the tendency to keep doing what you’re already doing. 

In about a week, I will dissapear in the mountains for a 4-day (ish) break. My current schedule moves in waves that are well managed and well planned. But every once in a while I get trapped. 

It’s not existential, but it can be very uncomfortable. The first quarter of the year was a conglomerate of shifting priorities. These ‘transition’ points are messy, as the new obligations are layering on top of old obligations that haven’t worked their way out yet. 

One of my clients is re-engineering the wedding industry. Her plans are phenomenal and she already has a track record of dominating whatever industry she does business in. The most interesting piece of the equation is where this new industry idea came from. After a couple of big wins in one of her businesses, she took a few weeks just to think… 

And it was hard. 

For someone used to the grind of daily pressure, the lack of pressure is odd and uncomfortable. I told her to do nothing; read a book or two, go for walks, do whatever she felt like doing — but no working for a week or two… 

Suddenly, behavioral inertia is broken. The brain recognizes that something has been destabilized, and it reorganizes its data to adjust to new patterns. Your best ideas always come from this place.  

In 2011, two researchers (O’Neill & Allen) discovered that individuals who built daily habits — writing, exercise, recording, etc — were significantly more likely to sustain their efforts over time. This is why “routines” work. But when your routines are broken, especially long-standing routines, there is a rush of neurochemical activity that creates new connections. 

She’s back in the game now with new vision and new energy. 

For most entrepreneurs, the organizing principle driving their lives forward is “more.” But I’ve found that to be insufficient; it is better to replace the drive for “more” with the drive for “better.” 

Better is much more subjective than more. But it is more appropriate.

You can create more with linear, mathematical effort. It is not that hard, but it’s hard to keep up with. One of my old pastors used to tell me, “It’s better to do a little a lot, than to do a lot a little.” The idea is that running 1 mile a day for 200 days is better than running 200 miles in 7 days and then quitting. 

This is true in every area, whether it be applied to your diet, your writing, business development activity, spiritual development, etc. 

But we get ourselves overwhelmed in the behavioral inertia of “grind,” and then we cannot get out of it. If you’ve ever looked at your life and realized that years have gone by with very little improvement, it is most likely due to this principle being ignored. 

All this to say, I go on a mini-vacation in about a week. And I’m very much looking forward to what I come up with when I have nothing to do and nowhere to be. 

These moments create staying power for the kairos moments. When you step into the slipstream of real momentum, you will need the energy to endure until you finish.