A body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts upon it.
— The Law of Inertia
Just Do It.
— Nike
I’m not exaggerating when I say it is easier for me to make myself run 5 miles than it is to return a package.
Running has become a non-conscious habit that gives me an endorphin high. Returning a package means tape and postage.
As Seneca said, we suffer more in imagination than reality. My imagination can make small things big things.
I need zero motivation for my habits, I Just Do It. It’s the tedious stuff I do less often that gives me trouble.
Once I am finished, I feel crazy for the first set of thoughts and a sense of relief for finishing it. The thoughts are worse than the activity. Anxiety almost always disappears with action. Action builds confidence.
It’s harder to start something than to keep it going (inertia). That’s why I use a goofy example like returning a package.
It’s not hard. But, something in my imagination thinks it’s hard.
The formal term is activation energy, which is: The minimum amount of energy needed for something to happen.
The activation energy I need to go running is much lower than the amount I need to return a package or call customer service.
I have been trying to figure out a solution for years.
The Nike slogan is more than a marketing campaign. It’s a philosophy for getting things done.
Doing things requires activation energy and there are a lot of reasons we fail to do things we want to do.
The key takeaway from the books One Small Step Can Change Your Life and Atomic Habits is that by breaking things down to the smallest action, you can usually overcome the brain’s built-in resistance to a desired behavior.
Once I change “returning a package” to “get a stamp,” it sets in motion the rest of the process.
Combining the two ideas, Make Things Small and Just Do It, is quite literally the formula for doing anything.
The Formula
- What needs to be done?
- Break it down into the smallest possible action.
- Just Do It.
Every action requires a forcing mechanism. Once I know something needs to be done, putting it off creates anxiety. Whether it’s because of fear or any other reason, that feeling sucks. And it grows.
Eventually, I know what needs to be done. There is no amount of information left to find out.
There are always a million reasons, but it ultimately comes down to just doing it.
As oversimplified as it sounds, I end up saying to myself: [Stop being a little bitch and] Just Do It.
Whenever I tell myself to Just Do It, I almost always do.
You can’t teach motivation. However, many of us get hung up on the part between #1 & #3.
I go back and forth on how much is biologically innate and how much is free will.
Survival instincts do most of the important work. If you are hungry, you don’t need to read a blog post on activation energy.
You Just Do It.
But, you look around at your friends and coworkers and realize that we are all wired differently.
You see that one friend that is unmotivated to do anything and then you have a coworker that makes you wonder if her blood type is Adderall.
Paying attention to my own patterns, I have a fair amount of control over it. I have gone through phases where I let clean clothes sit on my bed for a week, and I have gone through phases where I tend to everything immediately.
Obviously, it is tempting to write it off and think, “Oh yeah? Just Do it! Why didn’t I think of that!” It almost feels condescending.
Yet, this tiny Nike slogan and doing things immediately has been a game-changer.
Tending to the immediate things.
I heard that the Navy SEALs have a habit of always scanning the environment for what can be done. They have a sense of duty about doing things immediately and conquering every environment they are in.
It is hard to overstate the mental health benefits to this mindset and the momentum it builds.
Figure out the mechanisms and remove the friction.
Designing The Environment & Paying Attention
I like making my brain do everything I want, with as little ongoing work as possible.
If I keep full glasses of water within arm’s reach, I drink more water.
Say I want to try a new recipe. What would need to happen to do that? I would need the ingredients.
If I put the ingredients on my grocery list, they are going to get purchased.
Then the next step is having the recipe ultimately in the kitchen. If I have the ingredients and a screenshot of the recipe on my phone, there is no friction left.
Guess what happens: I try a lot of new recipes.
If you are in your head a lot, like me, then you may wrestle with this in tons of areas.
Replying to people. Vacuuming. Anything.
The reason people will and should wrestle with this is prioritization.
What’s important will change and important things should be prioritized and you shouldn’t do things that aren’t worth doing. See: Think Like a Hot Girl.
This is where thinking and over-thinking have a place.
What information would make it obvious?
When I am stuck at the spot before Just Do It, I ask the question: If I had or knew ______, it would be an easy decision.
What information would I need to make the decision obvious?
Then I try to get that.
See also:
- One Small Step Can Change Your Life (Robert Maurer)
- Atomic Habits (James Clear)
Thanks to James Bunch and Kyle Taylor for reading drafts of this.
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