The right question can move you into action.
It can give you discipline when you don’t feel like it.
Inspire you when you’re flat.
Motivate you when you’re doubting.
Or completely ruin your day.
Which one will it be?
That depends on what you ask yourself in the moments that matter.
At a coaching session, a client told me how “lazy” she felt about going back to work after her leave. She just wanted to stay home. Cook. Take care of the family. Stay in the comfort of what felt easy, familiar, safe.
First of all, feeling “lazy” before starting again is normal.
That’s universal inertia.
“A body in motion stays in motion, a body at rest stays at rest.”
This statement is Newton's First Law of Motion, or the Law of Inertia, which states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced external force. It defines inertia as the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion.
Physics isn’t just for textbooks. It applies to habits. Careers. Health. Dreams.
Physics applies to humans.
To you and me.
When you stop, stopping feels natural. When you move, moving feels natural.
But changing state requires force.
And one of the most effective forces I’ve found to move your mind to move everything else?
A better question.
When you feel like delaying the hard thing, ask:
“And then what?”
You stay where you are longer.
You delay work.
You delay the workout.
You delay the difficult conversation.
You delay the healthy meal.
And then what?
Will the problem disappear?
Will life magically solve it for you?
No.
You either give up on the goal…
Or you have to do it anyway.
So why not now?
What will be different “later”?
It usually gets harder to start, not easier.
Another moment.
You don’t make progress with your business or your health.
You start thinking, “What’s the point?”
That’s when I have another great question for you:
“So now what? You’re just going to give up and die? Never try anything hard again? Just slowly shrink your life?”
It sounds dramatic.
And that’s the point.
In coaching, it’s called amplifying reflection, pushing the logic of your excuse to its extreme so you can see how absurd it is.
Or when your brain says:
“Nothing works. It’s pointless.”
Pause. Then ask:
“Nothing worked? Have you tried everything? Name 10 things you tried that didn’t work.”
Usually, the list stops at like 2.
The brain loves vague drama. It hates specific evidence.
Questions expose the gap.
Over the years, these kinds of questions have created more turnarounds in my life than any motivational quote ever could.
Sometimes I even joke with myself:
“Angela, you got too good at questioning yourself. Maybe you need new ones to let yourself chill a little.”
Your mind will always try the easy narrative: lazy, pointless, why bother - to save energy, just in case you need it to survive, double-checking that what you want to do is actually worth it.
Your job isn’t to silence it.
Your job is to ask a better question to take more actions that matter and move you where you want to go.
So next time you feel stuck, unmotivated, ready to quit, don’t argue with your brain - learn to ask the right questions.
What question will you choose the next time inertia shows up?
