Daily Gratitude: “The beginning is the most important part of the work.”

Newton’s First Law of Motion states that an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion ….unless acted upon by an unbalanced external force.

So it’s not surprising that nothing will or can happen if you don’t do anything. You remain an object at rest. If you want something to happen, you have to put some external force into play – in other words, you have to get started.

Once you begin doing something, your enthusiasm builds and you are no longer trying to figure out how you can quit. Something in you (maybe it’s just a dopamine hit) feels good that you’ve “finally” started doing that thing you’ve put off for so long.

I’ve found this to be true even when doing housework or other tasks that aren’t very interesting to me. It’s the fact that I’m actively moving and I’m not sure my mind cares about the “what” as long as I keep moving. I end up getting chores done this way.

If this is a project you are interested in, the joy of getting started is even greater. You need to feed off that energy to keep things going.

Also try to imprint the memory of how you feel doing it when it’s exciting. That way you can call on that imprinted emotion when you’re at rest again. It will entice you to start moving again. It’s a game to trick your mind but it works.