Just do it! That's the 30 year old Nike slogan that encouraged everyone to get off their duffs and get going. Of course, it's hard to imagine that Nike
created that simple phrase, they didn't. They just tapped into something they knew human beings were dealing with....just doing it ....and their focus was on exercise, using Nike shoes, naturally. Just do it is really a cry to get over the fear, or whatever else is holding you back and have at it.
Aside from Nike, there are a ton of motivational gurus who have tactics to help you overcome the fear and get going. Mel Robbins has the 5,4,3,2,1 method where you count backward from 5 and when you hit 1, you move. She has an entire book dedicated to that idea, its called "The 5 Second Rule". The idea is that if you don't tackle a goal right away, your brain will kill the action, and keep you from achieving your goals. And that's what I'm addressing today, moving forward- especially when it's about moving through FEAR.
The 5 Second Rule is much like Nike's Just Do It - both indicate an immediacy and leaning against the human behavior not to act. And that non-action is most likely based on a fear of some kind that creeps into your brain by playing out future scenarios in a doomsday-like fashion. That type of projection sounds a like like this: "If I do XYZ I'll miss out on something important and without that I'll be doomed for life".
My goal is to write and publish blogs daily. And in my mind it goes like this "When I get my morning walk in, or I read, or listen to an audio book while knitting, all of which I enjoy, I therefore don't have time to write an interesting blog. What gets neglected is my goal, because I allow my walk, reading and knitting to get in the way. Don't get me wrong, all of those other things are important, very important, but they do not contribute to reaching my goal.
What's up? Where's the motivation and even desire to "Just Do It"? Mel is on to something. If I don't act now, my brain takes me to other places. Seriously, it happens to me every day- oh wait - it doesn't happen to me, I MAKE IT HAPPEN. This is all on me. There's only one place to point the finger and only one person responsible for not getting it done and thats me.
Here's the other side of the coin though. If it's me NOT working toward my goal, then it's also me who could be working on it. It is all on me and that's a beautiful thing because I have the power and everything else needed to meet that goal, within me, to make it happen. I just have to DO IT.
There are people all around me who are focused and achieving their goals. There's Courtney, rocking it with her amazing restaurant. She's in there every day making people happy with her inspiring and delicious food. She could be consumed with fear about what she's putting out into the world, and if she is, you would never know it. Then there's Meredith, starting her own company creating brilliantly designed and delicious charcuterie boards. Her business is taking off and instead of being consumed with fear, she's focused on improving her offerings. And that is what success looks like. Being consumed with what it is you want to put out into the world instead of giving into the fear that it won't work, and staying safe instead.
Here's another example. Sara Blakely, the founder of the super brand of shape wear called Spanx often tells the story of how her father helped her overcome the fear of failure by teaching her to embrace her mistakes, to focus on what went wrong so that she could figure out what to do next time. To take them as lessons and challenges, not failures. Brene Brown talks about the messy first draft and how we need to just produce what we're thinking and learning and ask for help in improving upon it. If we wait for perfection, we'll never get there. Because perfection doesn't exist, but good enough does.
Bottom line, we need to Just Do It. We will succeed, one step at a time, and doing it over and over again, with conviction and grace. Feel the fear and do it anyway.