"Just start it!"
Just those three words have had such an impact on me this week.
They came to me on Sunday whilst I was thinking to myself about how busy my month had been.
I had been working mostly on the computer and hardly had any time to get any physical exercise in.
At the end of each day, I was feeling too tired to do any exercise. It was a vicious circle. I needed to do exercise to get healthy and gain some energy but couldn't be bothered.
Returning to Sunday, I was contemplating brand phrases and mulling over Nike's "Just do it!". That phrase is good, however, I felt it could be improved.
For example, if you apply "Just do it!" to the task of cleaning your room, it is suggesting that you need to clean the entire room, from start to finish. There is nothing wrong with that at all. I do get it.
However, from studying psychology, the human mind doesn't like the thought of doing a whole activity. Have you ever tried to tell a child to clean their whole room?
"Just start it!" is fundamentally different. It is not dictating to the brain that you must clean your whole room. It is only suggesting you start to clean your room and then see what happens next.
This principle has benefited me so much this week.
Let me give you a few examples:
- I had been putting off doing abdominal exercises. Applying my "Just start it" phrase, I immediately found a clear space on the floor and "started" one situp... as I hoped, I ended up doing a full workout of 100 situps.
- I had also been putting off cleaning my kitchen. Applying my "Just start it" phrase, I grabbed a cloth and some antiseptic spray and sprayed the sink. Before I knew it I had cleaned the whole kitchen.
- The same goes for this blog post. I just clicked open a new post and started writing and here I am at the end already.
The point is.
Don't think about the whole end to end process of doing something. Just start it. By just starting it you fire up hidden energy.
So, the next time you are procrastinating about doing something please - Just start it! - and see what happens. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
