A famous Mark Twain quote goes like this, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
While it’s great to get the largest thing out of the way first, life’s challenges are often overcome and opportunities often seized by generating a little momentum. In physics, momentum is the tendency of a moving object to continue moving. It is the force that something has while in motion.
Picture a drag race. Engines revving, wheels spinning, clouds of smoke coming from the tires. We usually think of fast cars in terms of their horsepower, but it’s not overall engine power or even traction from the burnout of the tires that propels a car. It’s torque that really counts. Torque is the force that causes the car to gain momentum as it hurtles down the track.
Your personal “torque” begins with little victories that lead to bigger ones. You gain traction and momentum builds. Businesswoman and former Disney executive Anne Sweeney wisely said, “Our future is only limited by our commitment to keep the momentum going.” Generating and maintaining momentum fuels success in your personal and professional lives.
The power of science and the strength of our health care system has been full display during the pandemic, and the public momentum to support and value the importance of scientific biomedical research may never have been stronger. I believe the acceleration in understanding the disease and vaccine development at phenomenal speed firmly imprinted the importance of university and industry scientists in the public’s mind. Now is the time to advocate for discovery while our shared purpose in battling the pandemic continues to generate momentum that can drive positive change.
We’ve seen momentum build in support of science before. In 2017, an anonymous user on a social news discussion site wrote about the need for a scientist’s march on Washington, D.C. Dozens of people responded. One created a Facebook group, sparking a website and other social media pages. Scientific American reported that the Facebook group alone grew from a couple hundred members to more than 800,000.* Ultimately, thousands of people in hundreds of cities came together in organized marches to champion science and celebrate its role in everyday lives. Momentum in action.
You might have heard the old adage “Power sells cars, but torque wins races.” All you need to do to win your next race, make the best of a new opportunity, or solve the world’s problems with science is to generate a little momentum. Speaking of cars, “Ludicrous” mode propels the Tesla Model S from 0 to 60 mph in a blistering 2.3 seconds. That’s a lot of momentum, and it sure beats eating a frog.
* The editors of Scientific American, "To Change Politics, Do More Than March for Science; To fight antiresearch policies, scientists must become activists for the long haul." Scientific American, 2017. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/to-change-politics-do-more-than-march-for-science/
