Just Do it – Graeme Ing, Author

Just Do it

I trust everyone had a super Holiday time, and we still have New Years to come? I've been sick since Christmas Eve and have achieved very little except wallow in self-pity. Tamara says that men make the worst patients. I won't disagree. It has given me plenty of time to catch up on TV (including my yearly ritual of watching the Everest series), and more importantly, to think.

This is the time when we all make resolutions for the coming year. We dream big and hope we can actually pursue those dreams through the end of January let alone the whole year. Most of us fail. I applaud those of you that succeed. After studying goal motivation theory for even an hour, it is easy to see what makes a good resolution. We usually succeed when it is something we genuinely desire, rather than something we feel obligated to do. This is why diet and exercise resolutions rarely work. If we had really wanted to get in shape or lose 50 lbs we wouldn't need to wait until the New Year to resolve to do it next year. My last year's resolution to write more was easy – I was super excited to do that and it required very little motivation.

Sometimes though, we do have a genuine desire but procrastinate. That's me, I've been a big procrastinator all my life (but I'll fix that next year :)). There are many causes of this condition and a common one is fear, the fear of trying and failing or falling short. It is easier not to try at all. One single resource almost cured my tendency to procrastinate: Feel the Fear and do it anyway. A great read. I caught myself bowing out of several things during 2013 due to fear, most of them things that I really had wanted to do, such as an author speaking engagement. I lost opportunities at work too (though others might not have noticed as keenly as I). Clearly it is time to refresh my “cure”.

I'm not picking a resolution for 2014, I'm picking a mantra. I intend to post it at my desk and in my home office and assert it to myself whenever fear or procrastination sets in. Theoretically I can achieve a dozen resolutions with this simple mantra:

Just do it!

What are your resolutions or mantras for 2014?

Leave a Comment:

3 comments

River Fairchild says December 29, 2013

That’s been my mantra for a while now. 🙂 It doesn’t always work but I think it’s the best one out there!

Christine Rains says January 7, 2014

Woot! Awesome mantra. I need to do the same thing. I need to find my balance between writing and online stuff, and then stick with it. I didn’t last year. Writing must come first. Have a great 2014, Graeme!

Graeme Ing says January 7, 2014

Fantastic. With all 3 of us using that mantra it’s bound to resonate through the cosmos and work, right? 🙂 Hope you both have a happy and literary 2014.

Add Your Reply