Just Do It: 2015

Often, I will hear an advertising slogan that I like or that I think is clever, but it is rare that one of them carries what I see as a really important philosophy. Years ago, however, when Nike started using "Just Do It," I was impressed. I always saw that as: "Don't make excuses or equivocate about why you can't -- just do it."

I like that. Just do it. It's both assertive and gentle -- can be seen either way. And you know an ad slogan is good if it can be shifted to fit the times. I've begun seeing it in a different light.

Rocky, with no one watching, no trainer, no fans, pre run. 

I feel like usuing the phrase with people I see on social media who set up accounts to show the world their fitness progress or their weight-loss achievements. People often do this to make themselves "accountable" by putting their struggle in the public eye. I don't mean to lambaste them, but only to point out the possibility that (big surprise, here, coming from me) looking inward might be better than looking outward, here.

A lot of it depends on knowing one's self, of course. If one is driven exclusively or most strongly by what others think of them, it just might work. But, for the rest of us, maybe we should "just do it" and not talk about it and not advertise it and not depend on the people around us for motivation. Maybe we would change the slogan: "Just Do It And Keep It To Yourself."


For me, I find that any change for the better that I truly undergo is a personal and private victory. I might feel like I want to lose weight to look better to others, but that motivation has never, ever kept me at my fightin' weight of 205. (If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results...)

All of the decent philosophers agree that one must make peace with himself before one can make peace with the world. Maybe iftapplies to goals: Just do it in the privacy of your own life. Then, have at it and brag away. Maybe finding the commitment to being accountable to one's self is the most powerful recipe for change.

Then again, we see how well public living works for so many celebrities. They are always so happy and well-adjusted.