Bodies In Motion

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Newton was a smart guy.

One of his laws of motion is about momentum.

A body in motion tends to stay in motion.

Of course, he was talking about physical objects.

A common metaphor for making changes is turning a big ship.

This is often used to describe an economy.

A new leader is elected, and starts to make changes.

When the changes don't happen right away, people use the ship metaphor.

"Well, an economy is a very complicated system. It takes a long time to change course of an aircraft carrier."

We can use that metaphor on a lot of things, since a lot of things take a while to change.

Sticking with the ship metaphor, another aspect of a giant ship is knowing what's WAY ahead.

Occasionally they'll be a crash, where a ship didn't stop in time.

Since stopping a ship takes time and forethought, once you pass the "point of no return" there's no turning back.

Changing course not only requires patience, but it also requires being able to look WAY ahead.

For example, if you wanted to make serious life changes, you would not only have to accept that it would take a while, but you'd need to have an idea of what was coming WAY out into your future.

One of the big problems people have when choosing goals is that they choose them in the abstract.

They don't really take time to anticipate what it might be like two, three, or even six months in the future.

But the funny thing is that ONLY looking further out into the future will make it a lot EASIER to make the small daily changes.

Not only does it give you a clear reason  (which makes everything easier) but it helps to balance both your daily habits and your long term plans.

Most people get it backward.

They figure if they just change their daily habits, everything else will work out.

Consider doing things the opposite way.

Instead of focusing on your day to day behaviors, purposely imagine your life a year or two from now, and work backwards.

It makes changing course a lot easier.

Learn More:

Seven Disciplines