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Inertia: The tendency of a body at rest to stay at rest…or a body in motion to stay in motion.
We’ve all learned about inertia as a property of matter in physics class.
Whether you realize it or not, it also applies to more abstract matters - things like your state of health, your mindset, and your daily habits.
We all have a tendency to remain in the status quo. We all have that inherent resistance to change that feels almost overpowering…it’s that force that keeps us on the couch, reaching for another handful of chips, or that inner voice that says, “I’ll just do my strength training tomorrow.”
But have you ever thought about how you could harness the law of inertia for good?
Once you build that habit of working out…you crave the workout.
Once you get used to being outside every day, it actually takes more energy to keep you cooped up in the house.
Once you realize how good you feel when you eat nutrient-dense foods, you stop gravitating towards junk.
The ability to continue on a path of improved health for the long haul requires you to understand the power of action to overcome inertia...then using that energy to generate momentum that works for you rather than against you.
What causes inertia?
We all want to be healthier. So why does such a small minority actually follow through on this desire?
I asked my X/Twitter audience this very question. Paul, founder of Living Imperfectly Well, had this to say:
I thought he hit the nail on the head. Nearly everyone you talk to has an awareness that their health is lacking in some way, and many of those people also have a desire to change.
But you don’t have to look very far in the health and wellness space to get overwhelmed with contradictory information.
No matter what action you ponder taking, you can find an expert who is either for or against it. Nowadays, you can even find prominent "health professionals" suggesting you eat more processed food!
Before long, this develops into analysis paralysis. You get stuck in your head, in the world of the hypothetical:
“What if I start a strength training program and get injured? What if I choose a healthy eating plan but get bored of the foods? What if restricting processed foods actually makes me LESS healthy?”
In the world of the hypothetical, you manufacture hundreds of obstacles before you even take a single step down the road. And where self-doubt thrives, no real action is taken. As a result, inertia starts to build up.
Because remember - an object at rest wants to stay at rest, and it will devise all manner of excuses to justify not moving.
Only one thing overcomes inertia:
Action.
The snowball effect of change
Inertia will always be strongest at the beginning of a journey, or during a lull in the journey (think of the post-holiday daze you often find yourself in!).
Those initial actions to overcome inertia may feel like they require Herculean effort, but you have to remember this truth in the back of your mind:
“Once I get moving, it will feel easier.”
This is because according to the law of inertia, we all tend to remain in whatever state we’re currently in.
If we’re not moving, we want to remain unmoving.
But if we’re taking steps, we’ll want to continue taking steps.
The key to sustainable, long-term health improvements is to use this law to your advantage. In the beginning, inertia works against you, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Once you get that snowball effect started, it tends to keep growing of its own accord.
Lower your expectations…at first
To leverage the power of the snowball effect, you need to actually lower your initial expectations.
You may (and probably should) have a big dream in mind - a final destination where you want to end up. Maybe it’s to get off of a medication, or lose 100 pounds, or join an obstacle course race or a powerlifting meet.
But once you’ve set your ultimate destination, you need to almost forget about it - you can always tap into it again if your motivation wanes, but at first what you need is to narrow in on the specific actions you need to take on a daily basis in order to get there.
As a rule of thumb - anytime you’re building a new habit or looking to form a new lifestyle, you should look for the smallest, least overwhelming version of that habit. You can’t build on a foundation that hasn’t even been laid yet, so just focus on laying the foundation!
Your initial habit (or set of habits) should have these characteristics:
Simple (a complicated habit doesn’t have a chance)
Small enough to be doable even on your worst days
Create effects that get you closer to your goal (if followed long enough)
Remember, the goal is to overcome inertia, and then generate momentum. It will feel hard at first, but will get easier as you get moving.
Case study
Here’s a real-life example for you: my client Dan.
Dan has a lot of weight to lose, and is working to overcome multiple health issues. Thanks to a stressful job that he works from home, he also has an extremely sedentary lifestyle.
When he first came to me for coaching, he was very realistic and honest about the inertia that had built up in his life. He knew he needed to eat better and start exercising, but had doubts that he would be able to be consistent.
So what did we do? Did we come up with the most optimal exercise regimen possible, with the perfect balance of strength training and cardio to get his muscles, heart, and lungs back in shape as quickly as possible?
No. If we had done that, he would have never made it past week 1. That would have been an unreachable goal.
Instead, we decided on a habit he thought he could maintain every day - he would walk his dog for 15 minutes every afternoon.
He was consistent with this for a week or so, but I noticed on his habit tracker that his consistency dropped off after that first week.
The reason? The weather had gotten colder, and as a result, the walks were feeling harder. I realized that the version of the habit we had constructed was demanding too much
willpower, and it wasn’t creating the positive momentum I had hoped for.
So what did we do? Give up and accept that he would just be sedentary forever?
No. We lowered our expectations to match the reality of the situation.
Dave bought a treadmill of his own accord and put it in a prominent place in his house. The habit he’s working on now is to walk on that thing every single day, even if only for 1 minute.
One. Single. Minute.
Just keep the snowball inching down that hill. Get it moving, however slowly, and trust momentum to eventually start working in your favor.
That’s all you need to do…at least at first.
Eventually, we hope to build on the habit of exercise that Dave is building right now. 1 minute of walking every day isn’t going to get him all the way there. But it’s the foundation that needs to be laid.
Practical application
Let’s get even more practical.
What is your goal? What is that glaring weakness in your health that you know you need to improve?
Pick a goal, then start thinking up super-simple actions that get you closer to that goal.
Remember, the actions should be EASY. Make them so easy that you could do them even on your worst days - the days when your willpower is lowest, you’re stressed out of your mind, your schedule is full.
If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of an action, it’s not for you (at least at this point in your life).
Here are some lists of simple actions you could take, depending on your goal. These lists are NOT exhaustive, and not all of them will apply to your unique situation - they’re just meant to get you thinking.
Eating healthier
Swap ONE serving per week of processed food for fresh food
Replace your Tuesday Frappucino with regular ol’ coffee (perhaps with a shot of cream, if you’re being adventurous)
Cook one meal per week to eat as a family
Sleeping better
Go outside for 5 minutes every morning
Wear orange blue-light-blocking glasses after sundown
Go to bed at about the same time each day (+/- 30 minutes)
Managing stress better
Practice silence for 5 minutes per day - just you and your thoughts (if 5 minutes is too long, start with 1!)
Turn off all non-essential notifications on your phone
Think of 3 things you’re grateful for when you lay down to sleep
Exercising more consistently
Go for a 10-minute walk every day
Do a single set of chair squats before lunch every day
Get a doorway pull-up bar and do a 10-second dead hang every time you enter that room
Conclusion
James Clear is the king of habits - if you haven’t read his book, Atomic Habits, it should be the next one on your list.
Here’s one of my favorite ideas from his book:
"All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time” (pp. 22-23).
Don’t despise the day of small things. Get used to taking tiny steps toward your goal, recognizing that you’re running a marathon, not a sprint. Let go of your ego that whispers that only the most optimal or complex path forward is viable.
It's a long journey. Sometimes small steps are what you need to keep moving forward.
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