10 Weeks, Still Moving

A small note on inertia and keeping promises

Aug 03, 2025

Status Check: The Two-Month Toddle

Ten newsletters in ten weeks, just a hair over two months.
The thrill of the very first “Send” button is gone, summer heat is slowing everyone else to a crawl—yet the wheel keeps spinning. Mindbazaar is officially in the toddler phase: still wobbling, but suddenly able to run farther than anyone expected. The job now is simple, not easy: don’t break the streak while the world outside begs you to take a nap.

Hidden Asset: Why the Carousel Keeps Spinning

Physics first.
Newton wrapped it in one sentence: a body in motion stays in motion. The footnote nobody reads? More mass means more stopping power required. An empty grocery cart corners on a dime; a full one wants to keep plowing straight ahead. After ten issues, mindbazaar has real heft—momentum you can lean on.
Atoms never sit still.
Even a granite block is a riot of vibrating atoms. At the macro scale it looks frozen; inside it’s all motion, all the time. Projects work the same way: what seems “settled” is actually buzzing with micro-activities—DMs, half-ideas, background downloads—that keep the larger machine rolling.
Human inertia.
We hoard energy. Getting started is brutal; staying in motion is bargain-priced. That’s why writers swear by streaks, athletes by daily reps, and developers by “never miss two days.”
Once the wheel turns, the cheapest option is to keep turning it.

Inertia Everywhere: Four Snapshots

Inertia isn’t only “keep moving.” It’s leverage: every ounce of motion you already paid for can subsidise the next step—if you spend it wisely.

Here are four quick snapshots that show how that leverage plays out far beyond one person’s to-do list.

> Business — Blockbuster vs. Netflix
Blockbuster’s vast lattice of 9,000 stores was its proudest asset—until it became an anchor. The chain’s operating model (late fees, DVD shelves, weekend foot-traffic) carried so much “mass” that steering toward online rental or streaming required a force its leaders never mustered. Netflix, with far lighter commitments, could pivot, accelerate, and let the new momentum compound. Forbes The New Yorker

> Global Trade — The Shipping-Container Snowball
When Malcom McLean bolted a standardized steel box to a ship deck in 1956, port crews loaded cargo in minutes instead of days. That tiny efficiency edge gathered speed: ports, railroads, trucks, even factory floorplans soon retooled around containers because everyone else already had. Today those boxes move 95 percent of world goods—proof that positive inertia can tip entire systems. Transmodal

> Planet & Policy — Climate Inertia
Cutting emissions today won’t cool next summer; oceans and legal frameworks both hold momentum. Heat stored in seawater and long-lived power plants keeps warming trends gliding forward for decades, like a tanker that needs miles to turn. Any climate plan that ignores this lag risks running aground on wishful timelines. Pollution → Sustainability Directory

> Personal Habits — Psychological Inertia
From commute routes to evening screens, we default to whatever we did last time unless a jolt breaks the loop. Behaviour-change research calls this “psychological inertia”: resisting new actions not because they’re hard, but because staying put feels safer and costs less up-front energy. Harnessed well, that same streak-power fuels writing every week—or derails it if the streak breaks. Psychology Today

Bottom line: inertia isn’t good or bad by design; it’s a force-multiplier. Align it with the direction you want and it carries you farther for free. Misaligned, it cements yesterday’s choices and makes every future change more expensive.

Friction & Steering: The Four-Step Loop

Inertia carries you; friction bleeds speed.
Physics textbooks blame rough surfaces and air drag. Projects have their own grit: bloated teams, legacy code, bureaucracy, mental fatigue. Even the best momentum hits sand sooner or later.

Below is a simple four-step loop for steering when you start to feel that drag. Run it once a week, or whenever progress feels sticky.

Sand the obvious bumps
List every point where you sigh or stall, then shave one. Oil the hinge, automate the report, put the “publish” button where your thumb already rests. Behavioral economists call this removing “friction costs”; the lighter the choice, the likelier you’ll take it. BehavioralEconomics.com | The BE Hub
Keep adding mass in the right direction
Momentum loves bulk when it’s aligned. Ship the newsletter the same day every week; let that ritual pile on weight so stopping would feel absurd. Think of container ships: once global trade standardized those steel boxes, the whole supply chain locked into faster, cheaper motion. Medium
Check the compass often
A snowball gains speed whether it’s rolling toward a village or a valley. Short, honest reviews (“Is this still where I want to go?”) cost minutes and can save months. Climate scientists warn that ignoring momentum’s lag leads to nasty surprises—course-corrections get pricier the longer you wait. BehavioralEconomics.com | The BE Hub
Drop ballast when you need to pivot
Want to turn faster? Get smaller. Jeff Bezos’s “two-pizza teams” stay nimble because there’s less mass to maneuver and fewer lines of communication to drag on decisions. If a habit, feature, or committee no longer serves the goal, cut it loose before it fossilises. Amazon Web Services New York Post

Put together, the loop lets you coast farther, steer sooner, and—when necessary—hit the brakes without flipping the cart. Inertia is free energy; friction is the tax. Pay the tax with intention, and the ride stays fun.

Closing – Coast, Catch Breath, Tweak

Ten weeks in, the ride feels less like a sprint and more like a glide‐path. That’s the gift of inertia: progress that keeps humming after the motor eases off. Take a moment to enjoy it—then use the four-step loop to sand a bump, add a gram of mass in the right direction, glance at the compass, or toss one piece of ballast overboard.

Next issue (#11) will test those micro-tweaks: what happens when we trim drag before the fuel gauge blinks? I’ll share one experiment that shaved 40 % off my prep time—and one that flopped impressively.

Question for you

What friction point in your life have you turned into fuel?

Hit reply or drop a comment.

Your story might nudge someone else over their next bump—and could spark the opening lines of Issue 11.