Worldwide Success

When Nike came up with the slogan “Just Do It” they knew they were onto something powerful.  There is tremendous power in just starting an activity, whatever it is.  Newton’s First Law of Physics states that a body in motion tends to stay in motion.  This rule applies not only to physical objects but also to human psychology.  When people set out to accomplish something, one of the biggest obstacles is to just get started.

It is so easy to come up with all kinds of excuses for not starting something:  “I am not ready”; “I don’t understand it”; “I need to analyze it more”; “I am overwhelmed”.  These are all common reasons people come up with for their paralysis.  But if they just take that first step, no matter how small that first step might be, the thinking process in your brain starts changing.  Suddenly, you are no longer paralyzed by fear, by excuses, or by being overwhelmed.  Once you get started, you will feel eager to get on to the next step, and once you see some progress, you will want to do even better.  That big monster of a task which seemed so overwhelming at first suddenly starts becoming more manageable because you have broken it down into small, achievable tasks.   Pretty soon, you are on your way to success.

Let’s examine in more detail some of the key reasons people have difficulty getting started with their tasks and goals:

Fear

One of the biggest obstacles to achievement is fear.  People fear failure.  People fear the unknown.  People fear change.  Once you are able to overcome your fears you become free to achieve a lot more in your life.

Being Overwhelmed

Some tasks or goals just seem so big, so daunting, that you get paralyzed just thinking about how difficult the road ahead is going to be.   “How can I ever get this done?”, you ask.  “I’ll never get there”, you think.

Analysis Paralysis

Some people don’t want to get started with an activity until they have fully analyzed it and understood it completely.  The problem is, time is limited, and knowledge is infinite.  If you are trying to accomplish something that is worthwhile, but you want to comprehend every detail of what is involved, you will spend all your time learning about it and not actually doing it.  By the time you have it all figured out, if that time ever comes, you may have missed the opportunity to get it done.  This is called opportunity cost.

Procrastination

Some people are just natural procrastinators.  They want to leave everything for tomorrow.  The problem is tomorrow never comes.

Distractions

Some people have good intentions on getting started but once they decide to do it they get distracted by other tasks and other things that at the time seem more interesting.  The distractions get in the way of getting things done and you keep on jumping from one distraction to the next.

Lack of Energy

Some people never seem to have the energy necessary to get started.  The reason for this could be physical, such as a health disorder, or could be psychological.  This is sometimes also referred to as laziness.

Can’t Make Decisions

Sometimes people don’t more forward because they have to make a choice between two or more possible paths, and this paralyzes them because they can’t make a decision.  The actual root cause of this may be fear or analysis paralysis.

All of the reasons above can rob you of your ability to accomplish your goals in life.  In order to overcome these problems, you must take that first step and just get started.  Here is a step by step guide on how to turn paralysis into action:

1. Take your goals or tasks and break them down into very small steps
2. Take the smallest steps from above and figure out the easiest and most enjoyable one that you can get started on right away.
3. Take a moment to understand if you have any hidden fears that are preventing you from getting started.  This may require some quiet time where you should reflect upon what is keeping you from moving forward.  Ask yourself if your fear is truly justifiable.
4. Tell yourself that you are just going to experiment, and leave yourself a way out.  If you get started and find out that the task is as painful as you had imagined, you are allowed to stop.  Most of the time you will find that once you get started, it is not as difficult at it may have seemed.
5. Do not worry about not fully understanding the task in front of you.  There is always going to be unknowns, and the best way for you to eliminate these unknowns is through experience.
6. Give yourself a chance to succeed.  It is OK if you don’t get it right the first time. Or many times. Every time you make a mistake you learn more about what works and what does not work.

You will find that once you get started with something the brain automatically kicks in a new thinking process that opens your eyes to new possibilities.  Suddenly you find new ways of accomplishing what you set out to do, ways that you could not have imagined before.  And what seemed to be an extremely difficult task becomes easier to do.  When you start seeing progress, no matter how small, you get excited and start seeing the possibility of getting your goal accomplished.  This can be very motivating.

One word of caution is that you should not confuse just doing it with being irresponsible.   I am not saying you should close your eyes and take the plunge, not considering the consequences.  Let me explain with an example.  Let’s say you want to start a business and be your own boss.  If you never had a business before and you have no idea of how to start one, you should not quit your job and just do it.  That would be irresponsible.  Instead what you should do it start right away researching how to start a business.  Perhaps you can start right away with a small home-based part-time business and see how well it goes.  It is important to just get started, but that doesn’t mean leaving you safety net behind.

The next time you have something that you want to accomplish but you find yourself totally paralyzed, give the process outlined in this article a try.  You will be surprised at how powerful this is.  Take Nike’s advice:  Just do it!

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