Do you know what is a flyweel?
Well a flywheel is fundamentally a heavy wheel used to store and maintain rotational energy.
Then again you know we don’t normally discuss physics!
There is a deep metaphor in psychology about the flywheel!
In psychology, the “flywheel” is a metaphor used to describe self-reinforcing feedback loops in human behavior, habit formation, and mental states!
Just like a mechanical flywheel requires immense effort to start spinning but eventually generates its own self-sustaining momentum, psychological flywheels dictate how initial behaviors build compounding emotional and cognitive momentum over time!
Now this can be both positive or negative!
The positive is the Virtuous Flywheel (Building Momentum & Motivation)
In personal development and cognitive psychology, the flywheel explains why motivation follows action, rather than the other way around.
The Loop which has been discussed in many self help books like the atomic habits usually involves a Small Action → Visible Progress / Win → Dopamine Release & Self-Efficacy → Increased Motivation → Larger Action!
The application here is used when trying to overcome a gap or build a habit; here psychologists often recommend a “flywheel approach”—focusing on tiny, immediate wins rather than trying to change everything at once.
The initial push is hard, but once the cognitive momentum kicks in, maintaining the habit requires far less willpower!
Of course with every rise comes the fall, you have the similar context with the downward spiral or the Vicious Flywheel!
Here when the feedback loop is negative, it behaves like a runaway flywheel that is incredibly difficult to stop! It is literally like a small ball of ice or snow leading to an avalanche!
A typical loop can be an Anxiety or Panic Loop.
LIke a minor physical sensation (e.g., heart racing) leads to a catastrophic thought (“Something is wrong”). This thought triggers a fear response, releasing adrenaline, which makes the heart beat even faster, feeding back into the panic!
This is also seen in Depression or a Learned Helplessness Loop.
Low energy which is characteristic of this leads to isolating behavior, which reduces positive social reinforcement, lowering mood further, which decreases energy even more!
So it is up to you! If you use the flywheel to go up or down!
Then again if you are Vummidi Ethirajulu then you will definitely go up like the Sengol!
Shubh ratri…
