Non-newtonian moments

Take a cup of of cornflour (a.k.a cornstarch) and add nearly two cups of water, and you’ll have a non-newtonian fluid, also known as ooblek.

Ooblek has some unusual properties. For example, if you fill a pool with it (which is a lot of flour!) you can run across the top!*

Basically what happens is that when a non-newtonian fluid is struck, it ‘hardens’. If you stand still on the pool, you’ll sink. But if you run and stamp your feet, you’ll make it across the pool.

In projects, there comes a point when pushing harder won't make you go faster. When applying more force just increases the resistance. When spending more time, just takes up time.

That's when you need to pause.

It's normal for a project to hit the wall at some point. Most weeks, most days have at least one hump to get over. 

The trick is not to try harder, but to relax, stand still and sink into the moment.

* If you haven’t seen videos of this, go to youtube right now and search for “people running across a pool” or something similar.