Noun: inertia

1. A disposition to remain inactive or inert as in "he had to overcome his inertia and get back to work."
2. (physics) the tendency of a body to maintain a state of rest or uniform motion unless acted upon by an external force

Many people live in a state of perpetual inertia due to choices they make and labels assigned to them throughout their lives. Adults, friends and fools have incredible power to empower or hurt others by passing judgment on intelligence, strengths and weaknesses. In school, teachers often pass early judgment on kids who are good at achieving high grades, completing assignments and taking tests. These children are usually labeled as gifted, smart, special, and sure to succeed. The rest are labeled in ways that can often do more harm than good.

In grade school, my teachers would return tests and assignments in sequence of mark. The "smart" kids always got their work back first while the "dumb" kids were last. I was a "smart" kid. This led to problems where some of the kids resented the "smart" kids and retaliated during recess and lunch. I quickly learned to lower my grades to avoid being singled out. By late grade school the teachers had changed their ways, but the kids knew where everyone fit in the scale of life. The "smart" kids were still given special treatment where the "dumb" kids were ignored.

By high school, "smart" kids moved into advanced studies, "dumb" kids moved towards basic studies or into vocational schools, while everyone else stayed in general studies. At each level teachers would further refine the caste system in the classroom by focusing on the more promising kids while occasionally ignoring the others. Over time, personal attributes formed that help to set individual characteristics. For those who accepted their labels as true, positively-labeled people work towards expected goals while others try to get by and, hopefully, do the best they can. Some give up entirely, never expecting to achieve much in life.

The ones who do not accept negative labels tend to do far better than those who accept them. Occasionally they even do better than people who were blessed with positive labels throughout their lives. These people tend to work harder than most to compensate for their purported lack of intelligence, ability and talent. They believe that honesty, love of vocation, getting along with others, being an effective leader by example, family, fidelity, loyalty, and living beneath their means, are all key to success. As it turns out, these traits are far more important to success than a high IQ, great university credentials and a good job.

Even people labeled as "smart" in school and who now have high-paying jobs where they excel can suffer from inertia. In many situations, a high-paying job that no longer provides challenges can lead to inertia. The job becomes too easy, the money and benefits too good, and there appears to be no logical reason to take a risk to break the cycle. Most people dislike challenging the unknown and prefer living in a virtual state of comfortable inertia. Unfortunately, inertia is the anti-thesis of creativity and growth. People who break free of inertia make the largest difference in life. They are willing to do things that make others uncomfortable, take risks, challenge the unknown, fail from time to time, and occasionally win.

The BlackBerry^® solution and all related technology has been designed and developed by people who detest inertia and enjoy tackling the unknown. If you trace the history of most successful companies, you'll find that the founders challenged the unknown and won over time. Most didn't win every time, and some took some major hits before they finally gained strength. But all kept working towards achieving their dream no matter the cost. Perhaps it's time for you to do the same by taking a chance to realize your dreams.

As always we are interested in your comments, suggestions, letters, and anything else that you feel would be of benefit to our developer community.

Please feel free to email me at .

Richard Evers

Editor, the BlackBerry Developer Journal