Teach Me to ‘Just Do It’

In 1988, the ad agency Wieden+Kennedy was working with nike. It was one of their co-founders, Dan Wieden who coined the now famous slogan, “Just Do It.” The slogan itself is now enshrined in the smithsonian institute and has become one of the most well recognized slogans ever to be created by a company in the 20th century.

I love this because is signifies one of the most important lessons that we should ever learn. That is: To just do. Many times we are paralyzed by over thinking what may come to us if we go for something. This usually has to do with the fear of failure. No one wants to put in all their effort only to realize that it all comes back to zero when you fail at it.

I was also witness to a new fear for people this weekend. This fear comes from being scared that you might actually succeed. In this instance we fear what will change when we do finally succeed. We fear the friends or family we might loose in the process of realizing our dreams. We also fear the way people’s attitude will change the moment we push past the finish line.

No matter which fear we may have, we have to continue and most importantly, we have to stop thinking so much. I know I am guilty of this everyday. I try to think of all the possible outcomes of everything I am doing. And I naively try to prepare for what might happen so I can avoid failure. But in doing so I can never actually make it to doing the damn thing.

So here it is: Let’s get out there and just do. Lets go for the dreams we have and not let the fear stop us. Let us be people of action rather then just people of pure thought.

Look at this way, if we can not get past all the thoughts, all the fear, and all the rationalizations, we will never realize the dreams we have. And if we never realize the dreams we have, then we are robbing the world of the gifts we have and the ability we have to to use them to make lasting change in the world.

So no more thinking about that change of career, that big concert, moving to a new city or many of the other big life changes. Whatever you have to do to succeed, you do it. You don’t stop to wonder what might happen. You don’t second guess yourself.

In the words of one of the most iconic and SUCCESSFUL companies in this world: JUST DO IT.