What to do when you don't feel like doing what you know you need to be doing...

I have been there. We all have. That place where we know exactly what we should be doing, yet we feel like our butts are glued to the chairs or our backs to the bed. We just don't feel like doing it.

We know it is good for us. It will move us in the direction of our hopes and dreams. But we just don't feel like doing it.

We know we will be happy if we just get through it. We will feel proud of ourselves for taking action and following through. But we just don't feel like it.

I have been there, just like you. And sure as sunshine, I know I will go there again in the future. Maybe even later today. Yes. I feel you. It is called being human.

There is something in our nature as humans—a force that pushes against us when we set out to make positive changes. Call it the devil or your lower nature. Steven Pressfield calls it Resistance. And though I really like that name, I call it something else. I call it Inertia.

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by another force

Newton's first law of motion - The Law of Inertia

This force wants to keep us right where we are. Or moving in the same direction we are already headed. And unlike the passive phenomenon it sounds like, Inertia is a vicious and unrelenting active power.

Inertia's Strike Pattern

Inertia may strike when we are pondering the change. It may then push back by scaring us with all the work it will take or all the challenges we could face.

Yes, it could strike at this point, and sometimes it does.

But what is more likely is that it will strike at the point that matters the most--the point of action.

It likely will not stop you when you are dreaming about writing your book, starting your business or improving your health. It may not even stop you from setting goals. All that is fun stuff that often feels good.

No. It is so much more likely to strike at the level of action. It will wait patiently for when the rubber is supposed to hit the road - when it is time to sit down to write; to draft a business plan; to go to the gym.

It will strike when the time comes to engage the noisy, glamourless grind that produces the fine stuff of life. That is when it strikes - when it matters the most.

And it's target is the soft tissue - where we are most vulnerable. It strikes at our feelings - our fickle, flippant and often fleeting feelings.

And it works! Boy does it work! How do I know it works? Well, you, I, don't do what we know we need to be doing. We let Inertia win.

Beating Inertia

But we don't have to let Inertia win. We can exploit it's weak point. Once we recognize Inertia for want it is, we can apply another force to overcome Inertia.

That force is what we muster from within to peel our butts off the couch and our backs off the sheets. And because Inertia resists motion or a change in direction, those are the exact two forces we must use to defeat it - we must start going through the motions of the exact actions Inertia is keeping us from taking.

Motion - move. Just move

Walk to the desk and open up the notebook.

Launch the business plan spreadsheet on your computer and... start working.

Start changing into your gym clothes.

Don't keep still. Start the pattern going for the action you want to perform. Overcome Inertia with motion.

To make this even more potent, talk to yourself the whole time. Out loud if you need to.

I am going to do what I need to do to have what I want...

I won't let you win. Not today. Today, I win...

I am better than this...

I may feel awful now, but I know I will feel so much better when I have done the work to help me achieve my dreams...

The goal, at this point is not to write your best paragraph. It is not to break through the revenue conundrum or to break your treadmill record. It is to break Inertia.

As long as you can go through the motions and put in the time, you win.

When next you don't feel like doing what you know, you need to do, just start! Muster the force to initiate motion and break inertia.

As for feeling, remind yourself that you will feel so much better - you will feel pride and joy and a sense of victory - if you actually do what you are feeling like shirking right now. And remember, not doing it only makes you feel worse later on.

Beat Inertia. Get moving and you will win.

Until the next article, be your best and do your best.