By Stephanie Francom

I’m no scientist, but I’ve been taught my whole life that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Well, I have to share something I learned a couple of months ago that completely flipped that idea on its head. A mentor showed me a video clip that honestly boggled my mind.

In the video, a man set up two tracks side by side. Both started and ended at the same point. Track One was a perfectly straight line. Track Two, however, dipped down in the middle and came back up to the same height as Track One. Then he placed a large marble on each track and let them go at the same time.

You won’t believe what happened—the marble on Track Two (with the dip) reached the end faster than the one on the straight track! I was amazed!

But it didn’t stop there. He made the dip even deeper. Same result—Track Two won. Then he added three dips. Four dips. And every single time, the marble on the dipped track beat the marble on the straight path.

This simple experiment instantly struck a chord with me—because when you look at it through the lens of real life, it’s powerful.

When we set a goal that we’re fully committed to, things will come up that seem to pull us in the wrong direction—maybe even backwards. It can be discouraging or confusing. But what if... those dips are actually speed boosts?

This is where the Law of Rhythm comes in.

The Law of Rhythm is the idea that life has its natural ups and downs. And those dips—those moments that feel like setbacks—are actually part of the forward momentum. When we’re in a low, we can trust that an “up” is on the way. Nature shows us this again and again.

Think about it:

• The four seasons rotate every year—things are always shifting.

• A woman in labor experiences contractions: up and down, tension and rest. And all of that prepares her body for the miracle of birth.

• Rhythm is built into everything that grows.

Sometimes those dips in life feel like we’re off track or losing progress—but if the Marble Run taught me anything, it’s that the dips might actually help us reach our destination faster.

Here’s how I saw this in my own life:

For about ten months, one of our family cars was out of commission. With a large family, we technically had four cars—but during that stretch, we were down to three. And I was grumpy about it. I kept telling myself, “I can’t do this, I can’t do that… because I don’t have a car.”

But then I started learning about the Laws of Thought. I realized that I was unintentionally holding myself in that place with my frustrated thoughts and words. So I made a new decision: I set the intention to get a car.

The next day—no joke—my son’s car broke down.

But thankfully, I had just learned about the Law of Rhythm, so instead of panicking, I chose to feel gratitude. I reminded myself, “Something is happening. Good things are on the way.”

The next day, my daughter’s car got a flat tire. And as we were talking about whether to fix it, she shrugged and said, “Honestly, I don’t even know if it’s worth fixing—this car’s falling apart.”

And you know what? I laughed. This whole thing was getting ridiculous. But somehow I just knew it was going to work out. I stayed grateful, even though it made zero logical sense.

Three days later, I got a text from a dear friend who had no idea what was going on. She wrote, “Are you looking for a car?”

Let me pause here and say: I know how well this friend and her husband care for their cars, so when she offered one for sale, we bought it sight unseen. (Who even does that??)

It gets better: I still had cash on hand from my son not making a planned car purchase. And the amount? Exactly what she was asking. We picked it up that day, and now we have a beautifully running car.

Even better—within a short time, the other two cars were up and running again, too. It was truly unbelievable.

So here’s what I’ve learned: the dips don’t mean you’re losing. The hard moments don’t mean you’re off track. They’re just part of the rhythm. They’re the momentum builders.

When life gets messy, or when things feel like they’re falling apart, try to picture the marble on the track. Etch that image into your mind. The dip doesn’t delay you—it launches you forward.

Expect the upturn. Anticipate the acceleration. And trust that the path to your goal might not be a straight line—but it’s leading you there even faster than you think.

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