MONDAY MINDSET: ESCAPE VELOCITY

WEEK OF 3.25.24

 

In Rocket Science, there’s a concept called “escape velocity” – essentially this is the minimum speed at which an object needs to be traveling in order to escape the gravitational pull of another object.  Practically speaking, if a rocket doesn’t achieve escape velocity, it won’t make it to outer space.

In our personal lives, we often experience the pull of a community’s norms and values.  This is the social pressure designed to discourage deviance and, conversely, encourage compliance.

This is not inherently bad or good.  It just is.

But when we decide to make some significant changes to our lives – tackle a risky or difficult goal, improve our lifestyle in a healthy way, or walk away from dangerous behavior – we really start to feel this gravity pulling us back to the center.

It’s usually in the form of others telling us how we should act.  It’s advice, good or bad, that steers us away from making these changes.  It’s snickering behind our back at how we may likely fail.  It can be anything and everything, and for many people, the gravity of these exchanges prevents us from escaping and moving forward with our lives.

You will absolutely meet resistance if you try to make a change.  Many people do not account for this when embarking on something new, and the presence of this resistance can make them second-guess their decision.

But armed with the knowledge that others will often try to pull you back down (and again, this is not always in a negative way), you have to chase your goals with speed and momentum.

And pretty soon, the same people advising you against making certain changes might actually be the ones asking you how you did it!

So as we move into the new season, and begin to resolve our minds towards the pursuit of new goals and new lifestyles, absolutely account for the resistance you’ll meet.  Otherwise, your calculated trajectory may see you falling a little short of where you want to go.

With all that being said, consistent effort, and a little elbow grease, will usually get the job done anyway.  Keep it simple!

After all.. it’s not Rocket Science 🙂