“Whatever it is, DO IT, Do it ’til you’re satisfied” is a very upbeat song that reminds us to do things that make us happy and keep us moving. Even the shoe company, Nike, uses the quote for their shoes and athletic wear of “Just Do It”. We have so much trouble just getting started sometimes. It is hard, isn’t it? It is hard to get started in the morning, hard to start a diet, hard to leave a dead end job. It is even hard to just get up off the sofa, quit being a couch potato and actually turn the television on or off, much less get up to change the channel.
It is hard to learn to eat right, eat healthy, and eat normal portions. It is also hard to exercise, much less make time to exercise and be faithful to your program. Because it is so hard to do these things, it becomes very important to look for things that can give us incentives. That is why the song, “Whatever it is, do it, and do it ’til you’re satisfied”, and shoe motto, just do it, means so much to us, because it reminds us to start.
Once we start an activity, no matter what it is, it gets much easier. It is starting the activity that makes us hesitate and put off any action. We anticipate trouble or hardship. Sometimes, we just procrastinate even getting started.
The task at hand is not as hard as we imagine it to be. Adults seem to dread starting something new, such as an exercise program that takes them outdoors to play, whereas children live to be outdoors and play. Have you ever resisted going out to shoot hoops with your son or go shopping with your daughter only to realize in the middle of doing it, how much fun you are having?
In the first part we discussed about how most of us are afraid of beginning something new. We delay any new activity and find reasons to justify the delay. We are afraid, as we understood in the first part. Why are we afraid of anything new? That is because we have a comfort zone and we do not want to leave it. We feel uncomfortable leaving our comfort zone. In this part we will discuss more about how to begin new activities.
It seems that everyday life and responsibilities leaves us with little time to play and we have forgotten how to play. Once we get the ball rolling (or the bike moving), the moving isn’t so hard. After you have the pleasant feeling of achievement, it is much easier to do it the next time. How many people vow to start eating better and make plans to change to healthy eating? How many have actually even looked to see what the perfect portion size is for a man or a woman? It really isn’t hard to do but you must first get started.
It is the same with giving up any bad habits. If you want to quit smoking, then you must first start by putting the pack away. If you want to start doing yoga, then you must start. The starting is always the hard part because we dread making major changes in our lives.
After a slow start, remember that once you get started it is not hard. Just begin. The task at hand is not as hard as you think. You will be pleasantly surprised how much you can accomplish once you get started. There is no one-way to start doing anything new that doesn’t involve having you to “just do it”. Then you want to “do it ’til you’re satisfied.”
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