how to get unstuck (permanently)

Intro & Overview

00:01All right. Hello and welcome to this training. As you can see from the title, what we're going to be covering today is the inertia equation and the hidden physics of a stuck life. And as you can see from the overview, what we're going to be talking about more specifically is first the overview itself, the three discoveries behind the equation, the variables, the constant, and the force, and the 30-day protocol to break inertia.

00:20after which we're going to cover the review and your action items for the day or the next few days. Now, before we get started, if you want to work with me one-on-one, as always, you can book a call from the link in the description. If you want this training along with this document and every other training and document I've created so far on this channel, then make sure to join the free community from the link in the description.

00:42And if you want weekly newsletters on how to improve in every aspect of your life, then make sure to join the free newsletter from the link in the description. With that said, let's get started. and talk about the three discoveries behind the equation.

00:54Now, most people at some point in their

The three discoveries behind the equation

01:01life hit a wall. We all have had moments like this. They know what they want. They know roughly what they need to do, and they still don't move. They stay in the same job, the same relationship patterns, the same habits, the same everything year after year with occasional bursts of motivation that typically fizzle out inside a few weeks, if not days.

01:18And the standard explanation for that is typically willpower or discipline or mindset or the lack of those at least. But while those could be true, um they are not always enough. There's a real mechanical reason why people stay stuck. Now the pattern of staying stuck is so consistent across so many people that it starts looking like a law.

01:44And it turns out that's basically what it is. It doesn't matter if you're a high performer or someone who's never tried to change anything. the same pattern shows up, the same resistance, the same default trajectory. When something happens this consistently in so many people across so many contexts, the honest explanation can be found in physics.

02:02Now, the answer, or at least the most actionable one, comes from three separate fields of science that converged on the same conclusion from three completely different directions. When you put them together, what you get is something that essentially functions like an equation for human inertia.

02:24Physics, behavioral economics, and thermodynamics make up the three separate fields here. And the genuinely wild part is that four different researchers working more than 300 years apart all landed on the same underlying idea without any of them ever realizing they were building towards the same thing.

02:38And we had the benefit of hindsight. Now the convergence is the interesting part where three independent lines of research land on the same conclusion. I think then it's worth paying attention to. So let's start with this whole where this whole thing actually comes from.

02:57The inertia equation is a synthesis of three real discoveries that landed more than 300 years apart. So Newton found the first

Where the inertia equation comes from

03:09piece in 1687. Two Harvard researchers named Samuelson and Zeke Hower found the second piece in 1988. And right in between them in 1977, a Belgian physicist one won the Nobel Prize for the third piece. So four different minds, three discoveries, one pattern that's been running underneath every human life ever since.

03:27Now, what ties all of these three together is the idea that systems, whether they're made of atoms or habits or decisions, resist change by default, and they keep moving in whatever direction they're already going in. So, they don't change on their own.

03:43They change when an external force is strong enough to push them past a specific threshold. And until that force shows up, the system keeps doing what it's been doing. So look your life, look at your life right now. Uh that most likely it has a default trajectory which is the path you're already on.

04:04And without any kind of conscious force, that's where you'll end up. That's just how systems behave. You're just going to continue going in the same direction. The only thing that breaks the default is an external force big enough to cross a specific threshold.

04:18Anything less and the system snaps back to its original direction. That's why most attempts at transformation fail before they even get a real chance. All three discoveries stack on top of each other in a way that's frankly almost suspicious as well.

04:37Newton gave us the physical law. Samuelson and Zehauser gave us the behavioral proof. Prigoen gave us the threshold mechanism. Put them in one place and they describe a single phenomenon from three different angles. Now, Newton handles the raw mechanics of motion and rest.

04:56He's the foundation that everyone else ends up building on. Samuelson and Zehauser handle the human side, which is where most people actually live their lives. The numbers they came up with are actually pretty damning. Now, Prigoen handles the rule for when a system finally tips over and reorganizes itself into something new.

05:13without his work the other two don't necessarily connect properly at least for the purposes of this training now let's break each each one down properly

Newton and the law of inertia, 1687

05:28starting with Newton because his idea is easiest to grasp u because most people have already covered it now in 1687 Isac Newton published his first law of motion in a book called Principia Mathematica now most people remember it from school an object at rest stays at rest an object in motion stays in motion Unless something pushes it or stops it, right?

05:46That's the whole law. And almost everyone, you know, reads it as a statement about billiard balls or planets or falling apples. They miss what Newton was actually pointing at, which is a universal property of every system in existence, including you.

06:07Inertia is the technical word for the tendency of any system to keep doing what it's already doing. It's a physical property that applies to all matter, all energy, and all behavior. Your habits have inertia. Your identity has inertia. Your finances and relationships have inertia.

06:22And like Newton said, none of it changes unless something acts on it from the outside. So look, the reason you keep waking up and doing the same things every day comes down to physics. Your habit system is a high inertia system that's been moving in the same direction for years.

06:40Your sense of who you are, so your identity is one of the highest inertia systems you'll ever encounter. It pushes back against any attempt to change it. It's not that easy. And your daily routine has so much momentum behind it that even huge motivation often can break it for more more than a few days at a time.

07:00Now, most people misread Newton's law as a description of physical objects only. And I think that's the mistake. The law applies to any system that has mass, energy, and direction. Your life qualifies, which means the law applies to you whether you like it or not.

07:14The law is universal. That's the whole point of it being called a law in the first place. So that includes the system you call yourself. Your behavior moves under the same rules as a rock or a planet on a different scale. So moving on to the second piece.

07:31In 1988, two Harvard

Samuelson and Zeckhauser and the status quo bias, 1988

07:37researchers named William Simlson and Richard Zehouser published a paper called status quo bias in decision-making. Now, the paper proved something most people never want to hear. Humans systematically choose to stay where they are even when staying is statistically the worst option available to them.

07:56They ran experiments with money, with careers, with health choices, with retirement plans, with insurance, and every time the result came back the same. People defaulted to whatever option they were already on. Even when better options were sitting right next to them, even when staying cost them money, even when staying cost them years and time and energy.

08:16So, the bias is real. And look, it's been replicated dozens of times since 1988. It's one of the most well doumented findings in all of behavioral science, and almost nobody outside academic circles ever really talks about it. When given multiple investment options, people stayed with one with the one they were already in.

08:34They stayed even when better performing options sat right next to them at equal risk. When given multiple insurance plans, people kept the old plan. They stayed even when newer plans offered the same coverage for less. So, the cost of that bias adds up over time in a kind of a brutal way.

08:54Every default you don't necessarily question pushes you towards a future you didn't really choose. Most people don't see the bill until decades later and the bias compounds as well. A small default today gets reinforced tomorrow and by next year it's basically baked in.

09:06The bias is also invisible to the person experiencing it. That's the part that makes it so dangerous. However, the good news is that the bias re reverses the moment you become aware of it. Awareness alone can shift the equation in your favor.

09:25Now the third piece which is basically the one that ties everything

Prigogine and the threshold for change, 1977

09:31together. In 1977 a Belgian physicist named Ilia Prigoen won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on what he called dissipative structures. Now without getting too technical his work proved that complex systems whether they're made of molecules, organisms, human behavior etc.

09:44have a built-in tendency to maintain their current structure. So they resist change. They push back against external pressure. They also keep their shape until you hit a very specific threshold of energy. Past that threshold, the system can't hold its shape anymore.

10:04It collapses and then it reorganizes itself into a new structure that's totally different from the old one. You can almost imagine popping a balloon until you apply a certain amount of pressure. The balloon will stay the same once you pop it.

10:23Once you apply that pressure and the balloon pops, it basically reorganizes itself in a completely different structure. Totally different from the old one. Now, threshold is really the main idea here. Below it, nothing happens. The system absorbs whatever pressure you put on it and stays the same.

10:41Above it, everything changes. The system has no choice anymore. That's why most change attempts feel useless. They never cross that threshold. Now below threshold means small effort, small disruption, small inputs. Essentially the pressure gets absorbed and the system holds its shape.

11:00Above that threshold means sustained concentrated deliberate force. The system finally gives way and reorganizes around the new input. So when the threshold is crossed, the system doesn't just shift a little. It completely reorganizes itself.

11:14The old structure completely dissolves and a new one takes its place. That's the part that most people miss when they try to change halfway. There's no halfway in a phase shift. Or in other words, the technical word is a phase transition. Is the same kind of event that turns water into ice or ice into steam.

11:28What comes out of the other side is something genuinely new. A new thing entirely with new rules and a new direction. So with that said and that covered in the three different discoveries, let's actually talk about

The variables, the constant, and the force

11:47the variables, the constant and the force. So here's the thing. When you look at all three discoveries side by side, a pattern essentially shows up. Newton tells you that every system resists change and keeps moving in the direction it's already going in.

12:00Samuelson and Zehauser tell you that human beings are one of those systems and that the specific variables that are driving our inertia are who we think we are, the environment we live inside, and how long we've been running on default. Priuen then tells you that none of it breaks until you apply a force large enough to cross a specific threshold.

12:23Put all three together and you basically get something that functions like an equation. Not a physics equation in the literal sense, but a framework that maps the actual forces running underneath your life. Now, inertia for the p purposes of this training equals identity time environment time minus conscious force.

12:46Four variables. Three of them are already running whether you're paying attention or not. One of them is the only thing you actually get to choose. The three discoveries we just covered each handed us one piece of this and together they explain why most people stay exactly where they are for years at a time and why the rare ones who break out of it manage to do it.

13:06So identity environment and time those are the inputs that feed the inertia. The bigger each one is the harder the system is to move. They multiply each other. Which is why a deeply set identity inside a reinforcing environment over a long period of time produces a level of inertia that most people can't really change.

13:29Now conscious force is the only output variable in the equation is the only one that works against the inertia instead of feeding it. That's why the formula is minus conscious force. And the reason most change attempts fail is simple. The force is either too small, too scattered, or too short-lived to cross the threshold that Priusen identified.

13:53Okay, so to break each one down, starting with the heaviest one, which is

Identity, the heaviest variable

13:59identity. Identity is essentially the version of yourself you default to under pressure. It's the answer your nervous system gives when you stop consciously trying. It's the version of you that shows up on autopilot. So most people, you know, think they choose their identity.

14:12They don't. It got written by years of repeated behavior, repeated thought, and repeated outcomes. By the time most people start trying to change it, if they even do, is already deeply set. Which is why the standard approach of just trying harder almost never works.

14:31You're pushing back against a system that has years of momentum behind it. So your default self is who you are when you're tired or stressed or distracted. That's the real you. At least according to the equation. Everything else is performance you've layered on top.

14:44So you can look closely at how you actually behave when you're completely exhausted because that's your default identity surfacing without any of the effort you'd normally layer on top of it during a good day. It's the same story under real stress where the underlying patterns push their way up to the surface and you finally get to see what's genuinely been running the whole the whole thing underneath all along.

15:08Now, identity really resists change harder than any other variable. It's been built over years and it won't necessarily move easily. That's the whole reason most resolutions, New Year's resolutions fail before February. Most identities took 10 or 20 years to build.

15:26So, you can't expect them to crumble inside a week. The change is always slow at first and then it tips and then it accelerates fast. So small identity shifts compound into massive ones over months. And the compounding works in your favor once you start.

15:39Now moving on to the second variable. Environment is basically everything you

Environment, the constant pressure

15:46think you don't choose every day but that shapes you anyway. So the people you talk to, the spaces you live and work in, the content you consume, the conversations you overhear, the standards around you, all of it. And most people underestimate this variable by a huge margin.

16:00and they think they're independent of their environment. They aren't. Nobody is. Your environment is a constant pressure pushing your identity back towards whatever your environment expects you to be. And if your environment doesn't necessarily support change, well, your environment will fight you for it.

16:20Now, your inputs determine your outputs. That's how the equation actually works. The people around you set the limit on who you're allowed to become. Sometimes that limit is pretty generous. Most of the time it isn't. What you consume in an environment is an environment too, right?

16:37In terms of content, the content you consume, it quietly sets your standards, your moods, and what your brain thinks is really normal. Your physical spaces train your nervous system every single day as well. The training happens whether you notice it or not.

16:55Now, environment pushes constantly. It never stops. Even when you sleep, your environment is still shaping you. What you fall asleep to becomes part of your subconscious input stream. And what you wake up to also sets the tone for the entire day ahead.

17:11It's a loop that runs whether you notice it or not. The whole point is to notice and intervene. And then the third variable which is time. Time basically is the multiplier of everything. Whatever you're doing right now, time is making it bigger.

17:26If you're growing, time amplifies your growth. If you're regressing, time amplifies the regression. The hard part of the equation is that time keeps multiplying whether you participate or not. So, it doesn't necessarily care which direction you're pointed in.

17:42It just multiplies. Which means the longer you stay on a default trajectory, the harder it gets to change later. Now, time is the variable that turns small daily choices into massive long-term outcomes in both directions. So, most

Time, the multiplier

18:01people only think about the upside. The downside is just as real. Time pushes you forward in whatever direction you're already moving in. There's no neutral. So, a 1% deviation today turns into a 37% deviation in a year and an unrecognizable life inside a decade.

18:20Both good and bad. Now time has also a real cost because every year on default is a year you don't get back. That's the part of the equation most people refuse to look at. 5 years of default living is 5 years gone. You don't get those years back.

18:34That's why the time to add conscious force is now. Every week you wait is more inertia to overcome later. Now for the only variable you actually

Conscious force, the only thing you control

18:48control which is conscious force. Conscious force is the deliberate sustained energy you actually apply to redirect the system. So you can think of it as structural energy built into your routine, your environment, your relationships, and your daily inputs.

19:01It's also the only thing in the entire equation that can break inertia. Without it, nothing changes. With enough of it, the system has no choice but to reorganize. Like we discussed earlier, now conscious force is structural, which means it lives inside the design of your life.

19:16It runs automatically because of how the life is structured around it. So your routine is your conscious force made visible. Look at the routine and you'll see exactly how much force is in the system. Your daily inputs are the fuel that keeps the force running.

19:34So bad inputs drain the force. Good inputs feed the force. Right? Like prient's threshold from the first section, conscious force only works above a specific level. Below that level, the system absorbs the effort. Above that, the system finally moves.

19:52So sustained is the keyword. Spikes of effort don't cross the threshold. And concentrated is the other keyword. Spread out effort never reaches the threshold at all. So you need both sustained and concentrated. Okay. Now, with that said, let's cover the 30-day protocol to actually break

The 30 day protocol to break inertia

20:12inertia. All right. So, at this point, you essentially understand the equation. You know the three variables feeding your inertia, and you know that that conscious force is the only thing that works against them. But understanding a framework and actually using it are obviously two very different things.

20:30So, most people get the concept and then they go back to doing exactly what they were doing. And that's inertia proving its own point. So this section is really about application, specifically a 30-day protocol built around the four variables in the equation designed to generate enough conscious force to cross the threshold and actually shift the system.

20:54Now the protocol is a structured sequence that works in through the equation variable by variable in a specific order for a specific reason. Each week builds on the last and the order matters a lot. So you really can't replace something you haven't subtracted yet and you can't compound something you haven't repl replaced yet either which is exactly why the sequence itself basically is the protocol and why skipping steps tends to make the whole thing quietly fall apart on you.

21:21Now the whole order was designed around how inertia actually works in real life which means you observe before you act and you subtract before you add every single time without ever trying to jump ahead to the part that feels more exciting.

21:34So the goal of the 30 days isn't to necessarily build a perfect routine. The goal is to hit the threshold to apply enough sustained concentrated conscious force that the system finally tips and reorganizes. 30 days is roughly the minimum required to get there if you run it properly.

21:5130 days is really the floor you're working up from rather than any kind of ceiling. By the way, and plenty of systems honestly take quite a bit longer than that depending on how deep the inertia has been allowed to run over the years. When the system finally tips over, you'll genuinely know whether it did or not.

22:11Because without anyone really having to point it out to you, you'll feel it because everything that used to feel like constant pushing and forcing slowly starts to feel smooth and almost automatic instead. So the 30-day protocol I put together for breaking inertia at the system level is four weeks.

22:30Each week handles one of the four variables we just talked through. So you don't skip ahead, you don't double up, you move through each phase in order. Now week one is the audit. You're

Week 1, the audit

22:43observing slowly and only no changes yet. Most people skip this part and go straight to action. But without an audit, you don't actually know where your inertia is coming from. So for 7 days, you track three things. Where your time goes, who you spend your energy on, what your default behaviors are when you're not paying attention, and you write it all down.

23:01You gather the data, and skip the judgment. Once you have seven days of data, the patterns will be pretty obvious. So you track every single hour of your day and you write down where it actually went, what it produced for you and how you felt both during it and right after because it's that picture that shows you where your energy is actually going and where it's getting wasted without you ever noticing it.

23:26So keep a simple running log with the hour, the activity you did, and the energy level you fa felt right after it and during it. And honestly, that's about all the structure you need for this part of the week to do its job. By the time you hit day seven, the pattern will already be sitting there in plain view.

23:45So, you won't really need to sit and analyze it because the data itself ends up telling you exactly where all of your time has been going. And you track every interaction you have throughout the day and note roughly how much energy each one puts into you against how much it pulls back out.

24:04so that by the end of the week you can clearly see the real net effect each person is having on your system over time. Now the energy drains tend to show up loud and clear be by around day three or four. And once you actually see them written down in front of you, they get pretty hard to keep ignoring the way you probably have been.

24:23the builders, the people that build up your energy and make you feel better and push you forward in life uh and actually increase your inertia in a positive way will surface right along the side right alongside the drains too. And both of those lists matter equally because you need to know exactly what to protect just as much as you need to know what to cut.

24:44So, you'll almost certainly run into a few real surprises along the way, too, where some of the people you always assumed were completely neutral in your life quietly turn out to be the net negatives once you actually start tracking the energy honestly.

Week 2, subtraction

25:03So, now that you have the data, you move into week two, which is subtraction. You start removing things. And this is the part where most people get it wrong. They try to add new things on top of an already crowded life and wonder why nothing works.

25:17Now subtraction is what creates the space for conscious force to actually exist. So for 7 days you remove one major time drain, one major energy drain and one major behavior that's reinforcing your defaults. Three subtractions without any additions yet.

25:32So you remove the single biggest time drain you found back in week one and you cut it out cold rather than easing off of it slowly because tapering it down gradually almost never really gives the system a clear enough signal that something has actually changed.

25:43So tapering off slowly tends not to work when you're trying to cross the threshold. So what you actually want is a clean break that the system can register as a real and obvious change in the direction you're headed. What gets created through all of this space is a real stretch of empty time that you've deliberately now opened up.

26:01And that empty space is the actual goal of the entire week, even though it tends to feel pretty uncomfortable at first. You also remove the biggest energy drain, like we said, that you've got running right now, which often turns out to be a specific person, though plenty of times it ends up being a habit or a content stream that you keep coming back to without ever really thinking about it.

26:27So if the train if the drain happens to be a person then you reduce your contact with them down to whatever feels honest and doable for you right now knowing that you can always revisit and adjust the whole arrangement later once the week is actually over.

26:39If the drain turns out to be a habit instead of a person then for now you're simply removing it from the picture since you'll get the chance to properly replace the underlying trigger behind it once you reach week three of the protocol. And finally, you remove one behavior that's keeping your default identity intact and the one that's most visible.

27:01So you pick the single most visible behavior you you've got going, the kind of thing you'd honestly be a bit embarrassed to watch yourself doing on video, for example, because that's usually the exact one quietly holding your old default identity together.

27:13And you cut that behavior out completely for a full seven days. and you treat the whole thing purely as an experiment you're running. Nothing more permanent than that for now. So it stays manageable instead of starting to feel like some massive lifelong commitment that you're signing up for.

27:32Now with that space created, week three becomes

Week 3, replacement

27:39replacement. Now that you've made room, you start adding the new inputs that build the identity you actually want. Three replacements, one in one in time, one in environment, and one in identity. Now, the replacements need to match the subtractions you made in week two.

27:51You don't get to add random new things. The equation doesn't allow it. Conscious force is most effective when it's targeted at the same variable you just freed up. So, for time, you replace that old time drain with one deliberate practice that genuinely moves you towards the new identity you're trying to build.

28:08And you keep it to a single thing for now so that the conscious force stays concentrated instead of getting spread way too thin across everything. So deliberate here means the practice is actually scheduled into your week on your calendar like open up Google calendar or whatever calendar app you use and actually schedule it and it should be measurable in some basic way and it should be protected from all the other things competing for that time and you really do want all three of those running at once.

28:36So it needs to be scheduled, it needs to be measurable and it needs to be protected. Now, practice means the thing has a genuine skill component to it instead of being some kind of passive consumption. So, what you're really after is something that slowly builds real capacity in you over the full stretch of the protocol.

29:02Next is you replace the energy drain you just removed with a new input of some kind. Whether that turns out to be a new person you spend your time around, a new space you regularly put yourself in, or a new content stream that you start feeding yourself every day, new really is the key word here, which means the whole point is to bring in something different rather than drifting back towards whatever it was you just spent an entire week removing from your life.

29:26And the replacement you choose has to actually point in the direction of the new identity you're building towards. And if it doesn't line up properly, then the equation just ends up working against you instead of slowly building momentum in your favor.

29:38And then finally, you you replace the identity behavior with one that the new version of you would do automatically. So automatic here means the behavior eventually runs all on its own without you having to consciously think about it at all.

29:57And that fully effortless version of it is the actual target stage you're quietly aiming for over the long run. Seven straight days of repetition is genuinely enough to start laying down a new pattern. Even though locking the whole thing in fully is obviously going to take quite a bit longer than that since the first week is really just there to get the system moving in the in the right direction.

30:22So week four and the final one is the compounding phase. you stop adding new

Week 4, compounding to the threshold

30:29variables and you let the first three weeks compound on each other. And this is the threshold week. So by the by day 28, you've removed three drains and added three inputs. And the system is either tipping or it isn't. Your only job in week four is to keep the force constant.

30:44No new experiments, no new rules, just sustained pressure on the same three areas. That's how phase transitions happen. constant pressure right at the threshold with no relief until the system reorganizes itself. So consistency all the way through week four is basically the whole game at this stage.

31:04And those isolated uh spikes of effort simply don't get you there no matter how intense or productive they happen to feel in the moment. So constant and steady and slow pressure is what actually crosses the threshold in the end. which means you're aiming for roughly the same level of effort every single day instead of more effort on one day and less on another day.

31:22Right? Even a single day of relief can quietly push the entire system right back into its old shape again. So you want to be especially careful around the weekend, which is usually where people accidentally let all the pressure off without even realizing they're doing it.

31:41Now, by day 30, you'll know one way or the other. The system will either feel different or it won't. Different is the signal that the new identity has genuinely started taking hold inside you. And when you actually feel that change, the the right move is to simply keep going well past day 30 rather than treating the finish line as some kind of a stopping point.

32:09Same basically means you didn't quite manage to hit the threshold this time around, which isn't a failure. It just means you ran the entire protocol. You need to run the entire protocol again from the top with noticeably more conscious force behind it the second time through.

32:23And that's basically it. So, let's go over the review. We talked

Review

32:30about the overview. We talked about the three discoveries behind the equation, the variables, the constant and the force. The 30-day protocol to break inertia, the review, and your action items for the day or the next few days. First track your time, your people, and your default behaviors for seven full days before you change anything.

32:42So data

Action items

32:50first, action second. Then you remove the three biggest drains before you add a single new input. The space is really what makes the rest of the protocol work. And then finally, you run the same protocol for 30 days straight without relief.

33:02The threshold only breaks under sustained concentrated effort and pressure. So, with that said, I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, make sure to like the video, subscribe, comment below to let me know what you'd like to see next. If you want to work with me oneonone, make sure to book a call from the link in the description.

33:16Make sure to join the free community again from the link in the description. If you want this document along with this respective training and if you want weekly newsletters on how to improve in every aspect of your life, then make sure to join the free newsletter again from the link in the description.

33:34Thank you for being here. Thank you for all the support. Then I'll see you in the next