Nike has done a fantastic job of branding itself as the "doers" of fitness. People who wear their gear are go-getters who "
Just Do It". No excuse, no apologies. They get out there and they get things done and they look damn good doing it.
I love this. I love Nike's mission to get people up and active and taking personal responsibility for their lives and their health. Now if they could only make shoes with an insane amount of gelled inner-arch support, that would be great...
But there is a slight misleading quality to Nike's slogan. Just doing it doesn't always cut it. While Nike's brand motivates and starts that fiery passion in the gut, fiery passion just isn't sustainable. Fiery passion, like its very real physical representation, burns out. Sometimes fire burns low and you can't seem to find a single twig of motivation to keep it alive. Sometime fire burns out completely and you have to find two brand new sticks to rub together in a desperate hope that this time, maybe, you can make it work.
I don't know how many people have actually tried to rub two sticks together to create fire, but speaking from experience, it's a lot harder than it sounds.
1) Find the right sticks, one preferably bowed and the other long and straight.
2) Find dry kindling, small twigs, dried grasses, that won't take much heat and friction to spontaneously combust
3) If you thought collecting kindling was enough, then think again. Now find enough firewood to keep the fire going long enough for you to go out and find more later.
4) Take that bowed stick you found earlier, tie a string (that magically appeared?) to it, and wrap it once around the bigger stick.
5) Realize that you've forgotten to make a nest, find a coal catcher, sharpen the long stick, cut a chimney, etc.
6) Give up because there is so much to do and to remember that, honestly, it probably isn't worth your time and effort. You won't use this in the future. This is stupid.
There are so many opportunities that we are given the chance to be a part of. We can become a founding member of an organization, we can take this job in a field that has always interested us but that we've never had experience in, we can start a kitchen renovation. We can say, "Yeah. I'm just gonna do it." and then we think that we will and it will be over and then we'll go back to our regular lives. Wrong.
When you allocate time for something, you invest in it. When that passion-fire dies down, so many people are prone to give up. We give into the headaches. We make those excuses we promised ourselves we wouldn't make. We procrastinate hoping that new motivation will re-spark our passion. And, worst of all, when a huge and daunting challenge confronts us and directly opposes our progress, we feel powerless and are more likely to relinquish our power. During these dark moments, none of the inspirational quotes make sense and it seems like the fear will never go away. You doubt yourself. You doubt your purpose. You doubt.
And here is where Nike gets it wrong. You can't "Just Do It". You have to "Just Keep Doing It". It sucks. There really is no point denying that. But starting a project is just that: a start. It is not the most important part of the project. Anyone who's ever kept a New Year's Resolution will tell you that the first couple of weeks were easy. You were super excited about the "New Year, New You" plan, going to the gym, eating healthy but, somewhere, the temptation to quit weighed heavy on your overwhelmed mind.
It's the middle bit where it gets hard.
You've realized that this project you've started, this position you've accepted, is not the glamorous ideal you once thought it would be.
Just Keep Doing It.
The end is not in sight.
There doesn't seem to be anything but the pressure to persist and the guilt and shame and powerlessness that comes along with failing for the first time some aspect of the goal you set for yourself.
Just Keep Doing It.
10 hours of sleep in 72 hours.
You can't remember when you last ate a meal that wasn't just a granola bar or drank something that wasn't packed with caffeine.
Just Keep Doing It.
Because guess what? Those are the moments you remember later when you can finally say, "I did it." You remember what you sacrificed and you remember those who sacrificed for your achievement. And those are the memories that you can take with you to the next project you are asked to make sacrifices for. Those are the same memories that you can take with you to support the next person who finds themselves questioning the sacrifices they've made in the passionate hope to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
Speaking as one who has the tendency to over-commit: I do not regret pushing through my panic and uncertainty and feelings of powerlessness. I regret, instead, those times that I was unwilling to sacrifice a little sleep and free-time to complete a project. I also regret those times that I was unwilling to sacrifice my time, my preconceptions, my shoulder to cry on, and my listening ear for those who were struggling with their personal sacrifices and wanted to give up.
And I've gained an understanding. The panic, the fear of powerlessness, the uncertainty never really goes away. It's a cliche to state that no one actually knows what they're doing, they just all sort of stumble along hoping they'll figure it out as they go. But the the ones who grow the most and who learn the most and who are the most effective leaders are the ones with a life long goal of stumbling and learning and stumbling again through all challenges.
Humble enough to admit that they have forgotten to make a nest, find a coal catcher, sharpen the longer stick, and cut a chimney, they are the ones who go back, as many times as needed, so that they can eventually enjoy and share the warmth that their passion and persistence created.
