
It is all about the right perspective. You can either ignore the Apple that falls on your tree or you can make a fortune out of it. Newton stated his 3 laws in the book The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. In the process, Newton laid the foundation for classical mechanics and redefined the way the world looked at physics and science.
What most people don’t know, is that you can use these laws of motion to boost up your productivity too. By these laws of productivity, you can simplify your life, and improve it.
Allow me to present the Newton’s Laws of Productivity.
Newton’s First Law of Productivity
Firstly the original law
First Law of Motion: “An object either remains at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force. (i.e. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest.)”
In many ways, procrastination is a fundamental law of the universe. It is Newton’s first law applied to productivity. Objects at rest remain at rest unless you do something about it.
So here is Newton’s law of productivity adjusted for productivity.
Newton’s first law of productivity states: “To overcome procrastination, find a way to start your task in less than two minutes.”
Keep in mind that you don’t need to finish the task. As a matter of fact, you don’t need to work on the primary task first. But thanks to Newton’s first law, you’ll often find that once you start the task in 2-minutes you will be able to complete the task on time.
To quote some examples:
Right now, you may not feel like going for a run. But if you put your running shoes on and fill up your water bottle that small start might be enough to get you out the door.
Right now, you might be staring at a blank screen and struggling to write your report. But if you write random sentences for just two minutes, then you may find that useful sentences start to roll off your fingers.
Right now, you might have a creative block and be struggling to draw something. But if you draw a random line on a sheet of paper and turn it into a dog, then you might get your creative juices flowing.
Motivation often comes when you motivate yourself to start a task and go for it. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion.
Newton’s Second Law of Productivity
Second Law of Motion: F=ma. The vector sum of the forces on an object is equal to the mass of that object multiplied by the acceleration vector of the object. (i.e. Force equals mass times acceleration.)
For our purpose let us break down the law into two parts. First F is for force, a vector. Vector in maths is for both velocity (how much work you are putting in) and magnitude. (Where that work is focused). In other words, if you want to get an object accelerating in a particular direction, then both the elements, the size of the force and the force you apply on that task will make all the difference.
Guess what? The Same principle applies to everything that you do in life.
Thanks to team management software’s online you can easily assign a task to team simultaneously. To make a decision you need both how hard you work (magnitude) and how much force you will apply (direction). This stands true for small and even taking the big decisions in life.
For example, you could apply the same skill set in different directions and get very different results.
To put it simply, you only have a certain amount of force to provide to your work and where you place that force is just as important as how hard you work.
Newton’s Third Law of Productivity
Third Law of Motion: When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body. (i.e. Equal and opposite forces.)
In life, we are normally trained to operate on average speed. Your typical levels of productivity are often the balance between productive tasks and unproductive tasks. And that is what is meant by Newton.
There are productive forces in life that force us to do the task in less time. Forces like focus, positivity, and motivation. On the other hand, there are negative forces that drain our energy as well. These forces include lack of sleep, procrastination, and do multitask at once.
If you really want to be productive you have two options to do the do.
The first choice is to add more and more productive force into your life. We gut it out, drink another cup of coffee, and work harder. This is why people take drugs that help them focus or watch a motivational video to pump themselves up. It’s all an effort to increase your productive force and overpower the unproductive forces we face.
The second option that can help you eliminate the opposing forces. Simplify your life, learn how to say no. Seriously there is nothing wrong in saying no to things or people that drain out your energy.
If you reduce the unproductive forces in your life, your productivity will glide forward naturally. It’s like you magically remove the hand that has been holding you back. (As I like to say, if you eliminated all of the things distracting you from being productive, you wouldn’t need tips on how to become more productive.)
Most people try to power through and hammer their way past the barriers. The problem with this strategy is that you’re still dealing with the other force. I find it to be much less stressful to cut out the opposing forces and let your productivity naturally flow forward.
To conclude it all. There is a difference between just working and working towards a direction. You can run on the trademail for 4 hours but that won’t take you anywhere. But if you walk for straight 4 hours you will certainly reach somewhere. So go wherever you want to go but it is important to stay in check with your direction.