In physics you have to understand that most of the things you learn about aren't actually things but rather concepts to explain why things do the things they do. We often say that object have a certain velocity or have a certain amount of potential energy. The objects don't actually have these things. They're not carrying around little briefcases filled with velocity or potential energy. It's not something that physically builds up in an object like a static charge or a bacterial infection.
Momentum is an attribute we came up with to explain why being hit with a rock hurts so much. Simply put, momentum is the level of determination an object has to keep on going. This is us speaking as if rocks have a will of their own but of course they don't. It's a rock. We when we talk about momentum, we usually say something 'builds up momentum'. It doesn't actually build up anything. Things don't build up a physical thing called momentum like teeth build up a sticky film during the night. (Brush your teeth kids.)
Why do we bother making up these things if they don't physically exist? It's because we have to. Physics is all about balancing equations. Sir Isaac Newton came up with all these laws that explained some important fundamentals of physics. The big one was that you cannot destroy energy. In any situation, the same amount of energy that it started with must be present when it ends. So that means we have to start assigning attributes to things to make our equations look good. Things must balance. (Big rule of the universe kids.)
Then momentum was created to explain where all the energy went when the idiot threw a rock at you. The rock has momentum because someone expelled energy to make it move. It has a trait now that we can write down on our equation and balance things out. Balance is maintained. (Yay!)
Just a theory:
Now that we know about momentum, we can start applying it other things in our lives other than rocks. Physics helps us explain how things in the physical world work. Our brains are physical things that run on energy so why don't we apply momentum to the way we think? We do! Let's exploit it; shall we?
Mental momentum is something we all have experienced at some point in time. It's what happens when we 'get in the zone' or are 'on a roll' if you will. Time flies, we get lots of things done and we come up with great ideas out of nowhere. Most of the time this comes out of nowhere but maybe we can harness this.
To begin, we should understand how momentum is built. In the physical world, momentum is the combination of the weight of the object and it's velocity. The bigger and faster something is, the more momentum it has. So when we want to have mental momentum we have to apply those ideas to our brain. Instead of a big object, we have a big event. Instead of an object traveling faster, we have our thoughts moving faster. There are a few things we can do to help build mental momentum using these two traits.
First is the event gaining size. Whatever this event is, it must be built up in our brain as such an event that it overshadows all other things we need to do. It must become the most important event in our lives. Think of a party. We look forward to it, we plan for it, we can barely contain how excited we are for it. We build anticipation. Anticipation is like the mass of our event. So if we're trying to use mental momentum for something mundane, such as cleaning a room, we need to build anticipation. To aid us, we should start adding things to our job to make it more grandiose. We could plan on watching our favorite action movie while cleaning. We could buy special coffee for the occasion to treat ourselves for cleaning. We could also plan on capping off our accomplishment with a refreshing gin and tonic when we are finished. All these little things add up to make simply cleaning a room an event worth looking forward to. Our anticipation grows as we wait excitedly to treat ourselves with all these new rewards for cleaning.
Secondly, we need velocity. We must never forget that the mind is subject to the whims of the body. Physical activity releases chemicals in our brain that help us keep going. Adrenaline, endorphins and the like. These are in place to convince us that physical activity is a good thing and keep us sharp in the face of danger. We can use these chemicals to aid us in the mundane as well. We can build in a small workout before our room cleaning to get the body releasing these wonderful little drugs. We can give our body a little boost with our special coffee we bought for the occasion. When we get to actually cleaning, we can be smart about how we do physical activity as not to strain ourselves and slow our progress. Lift with the legs, don't get too comfortable and allow the body to relax and so forth.
We have now prepared for the event and when we get started, we will have the momentum to get our task done quickly and better enjoy it while we're doing it. Mental momentum can be used for all sorts of things in our lives to help us out. I recommend trying it out next time you have something dull to do.
Thanks for stopping at Just a Theory today.
Why do we bother making up these things if they don't physically exist? It's because we have to. Physics is all about balancing equations. Sir Isaac Newton came up with all these laws that explained some important fundamentals of physics. The big one was that you cannot destroy energy. In any situation, the same amount of energy that it started with must be present when it ends. So that means we have to start assigning attributes to things to make our equations look good. Things must balance. (Big rule of the universe kids.)
Then momentum was created to explain where all the energy went when the idiot threw a rock at you. The rock has momentum because someone expelled energy to make it move. It has a trait now that we can write down on our equation and balance things out. Balance is maintained. (Yay!)
Just a theory:
Now that we know about momentum, we can start applying it other things in our lives other than rocks. Physics helps us explain how things in the physical world work. Our brains are physical things that run on energy so why don't we apply momentum to the way we think? We do! Let's exploit it; shall we?
Mental momentum is something we all have experienced at some point in time. It's what happens when we 'get in the zone' or are 'on a roll' if you will. Time flies, we get lots of things done and we come up with great ideas out of nowhere. Most of the time this comes out of nowhere but maybe we can harness this.
To begin, we should understand how momentum is built. In the physical world, momentum is the combination of the weight of the object and it's velocity. The bigger and faster something is, the more momentum it has. So when we want to have mental momentum we have to apply those ideas to our brain. Instead of a big object, we have a big event. Instead of an object traveling faster, we have our thoughts moving faster. There are a few things we can do to help build mental momentum using these two traits.
First is the event gaining size. Whatever this event is, it must be built up in our brain as such an event that it overshadows all other things we need to do. It must become the most important event in our lives. Think of a party. We look forward to it, we plan for it, we can barely contain how excited we are for it. We build anticipation. Anticipation is like the mass of our event. So if we're trying to use mental momentum for something mundane, such as cleaning a room, we need to build anticipation. To aid us, we should start adding things to our job to make it more grandiose. We could plan on watching our favorite action movie while cleaning. We could buy special coffee for the occasion to treat ourselves for cleaning. We could also plan on capping off our accomplishment with a refreshing gin and tonic when we are finished. All these little things add up to make simply cleaning a room an event worth looking forward to. Our anticipation grows as we wait excitedly to treat ourselves with all these new rewards for cleaning.
Secondly, we need velocity. We must never forget that the mind is subject to the whims of the body. Physical activity releases chemicals in our brain that help us keep going. Adrenaline, endorphins and the like. These are in place to convince us that physical activity is a good thing and keep us sharp in the face of danger. We can use these chemicals to aid us in the mundane as well. We can build in a small workout before our room cleaning to get the body releasing these wonderful little drugs. We can give our body a little boost with our special coffee we bought for the occasion. When we get to actually cleaning, we can be smart about how we do physical activity as not to strain ourselves and slow our progress. Lift with the legs, don't get too comfortable and allow the body to relax and so forth.
We have now prepared for the event and when we get started, we will have the momentum to get our task done quickly and better enjoy it while we're doing it. Mental momentum can be used for all sorts of things in our lives to help us out. I recommend trying it out next time you have something dull to do.
Thanks for stopping at Just a Theory today.
No comments:
Post a Comment