Be more daring

You’re all here reading these posts because like me you hate the Nike slogan, “just do it”. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s brilliant; it’s short, easy to say and explains so much in three words. However, they didn’t keep in mind how hard it is to “just do it”. They didn’t mention the countless steps need to be done before you can actually think of a plan and just do it. Well today I found a way that may make it a little easier.

Today was just like any other day. I go to class, get some food and then head back up to my home and either watch YouTube videos or sleep, then eventually go to the gym, get my meals in, do some homework, basically the bare minimum. You’d rarely catch me studying unless I knew I really needed it or there was a test the morning after in which case I really do need it haha. In which case, I’d use that motivation to do well on the test and end up studying the entire night.

But sometimes you lose that “I really do need to do this” motivation. Like most motivators out there, they don’t really last too long. Examples are music, acing a test, having an awesome workout etc. Sometimes even after these motivators, you’re still fighting yourself to go out and take an extra step. I know, it’s tough. Believe me I’m in the same shoes as you and not just because I’m writing about it haha. I’ll give you an example. When I’m about to get ready to hit the gym, I start thinking about my routine and about doing something I haven’t done in a while whether it be deadlifting or squatting etc. This leads to me to start making excuses like, “you went yesterday” or “do deadlifting tomorrow” and sometimes I’m literally sitting there debating. It really is a struggle sometimes.

Well. here’s a thought. What I meant in the title is make those moves that you know are risky but you know will get you going. Most of us KNOW what we have to do, I’d say we know about 90% of the decision we have to make, problem is we don’t do them. Take me for example, I knew if I’d go back home today after classes, I would definitely not study. That’s something I KNOW because I know myself very well. So what did I do? I hopped on a random bus and did some exploring.

This worked. Why? Well I believe that if you do something that you don’t normally do, you’ll get a little motivated. I mean think about it. Even been on a walk spontaneously? Cleared your head? Afterwards you felt different, you felt like you could take on another challenge. Well, that’s that small motivation and it’s what happened to me. I came back to campus, sat in Panera Bread for about an hour and studied a bit. I was motivated because I did something that I don’t normally do. And it doesn’t matter what it is. It just has to be something different from your regular schedule.

Make sure that this course of action isn’t difficult. It’s a stepping stone for us so it has to be easy because we’re using it as a shortcut to study or hit the gym, whatever it might be. This was something I knew I had to do if I wanted to study. Just because we don’t make these decisions doesn’t mean we don’t know what they are. I’m sure all of us know what needs to be done for us to become better versions of ourselves.

We know that in order to not go shopping hungry we should eat beforehand to avoid buying junk food, but we don’t eat beforehand and end up buying junk food anyway. We know that in order to start going to the gym we have to find a workout partner (or ask that gym guy from work if he’d be willing) but we don’t. We know we can stop watching YouTube videos all night by giving away our computer to a friend but we don’t. We know what has to be done but we’re here because we can’t really do it. Hell, the reason I’m writing these posts is because I can’t get myself to start an Instagram and I’m hoping this’ll give me motivation in the future to do so. We 100% know the decisions we have to make and we know they will 100% work because they were crafted based on the knowledge we have of ourselves (and we know ourselves best).

Success is a fine line between knowing that giving away your computer will get you more sleep and actually giving it away. There’s no “just do it” crap here. We’re not successful by any measure (yet) and so we don’t have the mindset to simply just do it. We will eventually, but in order to get there we have to scrap up motivators, make maps, think and think, use trial and error, all of the above. So let’s use stepping stones like going for a walk or hopping on a bus and use the motivation from these small actions to start making those bigger decisions.