I don’t know you, but I know this: You have
internet access, and enough time to spend some of it watching. It sounds obvious, but this tells me two more
important things about you: One, you’re in the top half of humanity’s wealth distribution,
because the other half of the world’s population isn’t even online yet. And two, since you’re here, you’re likely
fighting a very modern human fight. You’ve probably already got the basics covered
— food, a roof over your head. For you, the obstacles to a better, happier
life aren’t all concrete. You’re trying to defeat more abstract enemies:
laziness, boredom, self-doubt, procrastination. Here’s the thing: All these concepts are
one and the same. And there’s only one way to deal with them. You’re not lazy. You’re not bored. You’re not unmotivated. What you are — what all of us are — is
afraid. And the best advice for overcoming fear is
the bland three-word sentence Nike turned into the most successful marketing slogan
of all time: Just do it. “I’m not motivated” is never a true
statement. Not motivated to do what? Work? In that case, aren’t you motivated to avoid
it? Every action human beings ever take is driven
by some kind of incentive, whether it’s money, or happiness, or peace, or satisfying
your conscience. Your motivation may not always be obvious,
but it’s always there. If you hate every second of the workday, you’re
not unmotivated to change your job. But you haven’t, which means there’s something
holding you back. For some reason, it feels like you can’t
make the change. It’s too hard, requires too much effort,
makes you too vulnerable to rejection. So you don’t even try. But that’s entirely different from not being
motivated, and it’s only a sign that it’s time to dig into this feeling. I once struck up a chat on Tinder with a woman
who was a scrum master and a physiologist. She was in business school, but, really, she
wanted to study fashion and launch her own creative company. In short, she was a fascinating person. When I asked her why she even used the app,
she spoke the most common lie in the world: “I’m bored.” How do I know it was a lie? Because no one is ever bored anymore. There’s no reason to be. Most of us don’t even choose to try. We’re 100% connected, 100% of the time. We just pretend to be bored so we can keep
filling our days with meaningless distractions, like small talk on Tinder, because we know
what lies beneath the stillness: existential dread. Go through the door of boredom, and that’s
what you’ll find. The great scientist and mathematician Blaise
Pascal once said: “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly
in a room alone.” You’re not bored. You’re terrified of being alone with yourself
in your own head. Laziness is the scapegoat of everyone who’s
trying to capitalize on your claim of “being bored.” “You’re not bored — you’re boring!”
is what they’ll tell you. You need a hobby, or a calling, or a $250
fitness program with a personalized meal plan. This, too, is nonsense. Laziness, like boredom, doesn’t exist. As psychology professor Devon Price has explained:
“No one wants to feel incapable, apathetic, or ineffective. If you look at a person’s action (or inaction)
and see only laziness, you are missing key details.” What looks like laziness or self-sabotage
is almost always something else — a lack of confidence, an unmet need. Once again, it’s not a lack of motivation,
an inexplicable unwillingness to act, that obstructs your path to success and happiness. It’s the invisible boundaries in your head
that you’re tripping over — sometimes without ever moving at all. Laziness, boredom, procrastination — all
of these are symptoms of the same disease. My dad once told me this story: A colleague
was driving to an appointment with a customer. As he was overtaking a truck, the truck moved
into his lane. Seeing his car get crushed from the passenger
side and compressing towards him, his animal instincts kicked in. Unleashing an ancient roar at the top of his
lungs, he ripped out the gear lever of his automatic gearbox with one hand. Clearly, we’re not talking about breaking
off a knob on your radio. It’s a heavy, difficult-to-break piece of
machinery. That’s the power of fear. It can make you do unimaginable things. Now imagine turning this same power not onto
your physical environment, but against your own mind. That’s what we tend to do when faced with
a struggle — we take this unbelievable source of raw power and turn it on ourselves. We do it by self-medicating, by concocting
and treating powerful symptoms, like laziness and boredom. Instead of seeing everyone rip their gear
levers out of their cars, we see them staring at their phones on the subway, or procrastinating
on a deadline by bingeing TV, or getting dragged into dumb fights on social media. We’re all afraid of something; we just choose
to medicate that fear differently. The number of things you can be afraid of
is endless. You’re afraid of dying early from a plane
crash or an armed robbery or a natural disaster or a newly discovered parasite, even though
the odds strongly suggest you won’t. You’re afraid of being alone because of
existential dread, but also because it looks weird and gets weird looks, and if your parents
haven’t asked why you’re still single yet, your friends most certainly have. You’re afraid of writing the first chapter
of your book, because who thinks that’ll ever work out? But you’re also afraid of wasting 10 more
hours watching Game of Thrones, especially now that you’ve already seen the whole thing
twice. You’re afraid of never being rich, but not
nearly as much as you’re afraid of losing whatever you already have. I could keep going all day. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of
looking stupid, fear of losing something or someone, fear of fear, fear of wasting time,
fear of not being good enough, smart enough, attractive enough. In order to deal with all these fears, you
could buy a new book from a new guru each week, collect a stunning array of probably-placebo
supplements on your shelf, churn through organizational systems and mantras and resolutions. Or, you could wake up and realize that all
these fears are the same thing. Fear is the same dark creature that’s always
plagued us, and it will continue to invent new tricks till kingdom come. You have to find a way to live in spite of
it. That dog is going to keep chasing you until
you die. And some days, it will get to you. But you have to keep moving. Forever. The day you run into the bright light at the
end of the tunnel, I want you to look back and give the finger to that dog trailing behind. I’m no more qualified to talk about fear
than any random guy you’d meet on the street. I don’t have a degree in psychology, or
even formal training as a writer. But, like you, I have lived with fear my whole
life. And, somehow, I’ve still arrived in a place
where I have a job I love, lots of time to spend how I want, and a general sense of happiness. I have my own issues to resolve, but I feel
okay taking life one day at a time. And that’s what it’s about. Beat the dog again and again. And again. My theme for this year is ‘focus.’ Across all areas of my life, I’m trying
my best to drill down to what really matters: projects, people, how I manage my time and
my energy. And the one thing that has helped me show
up consistently in spite of fear is some version of Nike’s annoyingly obvious slogan: Just
Do It. Because besides being annoyingly obvious,
it’s also universally, inescapably true. “Just Do It” isn’t an elegant solution. It’s not dismissive or snobby, but empowering
and humble. It’s motivation. Inspiration. Action. Energy. People don’t realize how deep this slogan
is. “If it were that easy, don’t you think
everybody would ‘just do it?’” No, no, no. That’s not what it’s about. It’s about something Marcus Aurelius told
himself 2,000 years ago: “You must build up your life action by action, and be content
if each one achieves its goal as far as possible — and no one can keep you from this.” If all we did was focus on the task right
in front of us, we’d accomplish 99% of our goals and then some. Sure, we’d still have to pause and reflect
on occasion, and not all goals would turn out to be worth chasing in the first place,
but we’d get there. This is everything. The whole strategy. You don’t have time for big picture concerns
when you’re “doing”. And I don’t mean running around all day
like a rat in a maze. I mean steadily engaging and re-focusing on
the task at hand. A strategy is a long-term approach to getting
what you want. It’s a set of behaviors you’re committed
to, a line of principles you’re unwilling to compromise. Using “Just Do It” as the strategy, the
operating system of your life, means committing to figuring it out on your own. You chase your goals based on what you believe
in. If you think art should be free, then make
art for free and get sponsors or donors. If you don’t believe in remote work, rent
an office and hire locally. “Just Do It” is the best advice because
it’s the only advice that works. When I started writing, I gave lots of specific
tips in my articles: how to set goals, have a morning routine, be productive. But specifics are full of hindsight bias. I’m only giving you the final 10% that worked,
and that worked for me in particular. The messy 90% of the journey that led me there? I left that out completely. And my specific advice is only going to work
for a tiny fraction of people who happen to be in the right place at the right time and
for whom it will click immediately. Everyone else who still needs to go through
the random 90% in their journey will be left out in the cold. Still feeling alone, still stuck with their
fears. Except now, they’re disappointed too. “Just Do It” may not be perfect, but at
least it clears the air from the start: Yes, you are alone, but you also have everything
you could ever need to figure things out. You will make many mistakes, but since no
one on this planet can give you the perfect answers to the questions created by your own
unique circumstances, choosing for yourself and continuing to move forward is not just
the best thing you can do, it’s also the only thing. A tactic is a short- to medium-term course
of action that helps you live up to your strategy. “Just Do It” as a tactic is refusing to
let everyday hurdles get to you, while relentlessly focusing on the next, smallest action you
can control. Your boss didn’t like the presentation? Fine, do it over and show her again. You’ve run out of clients and your freelance
business never really got off the ground? Fine, shut it down and start from scratch. Ghosted on Tinder? Fine, delete the app and try another way of
meeting people. The faster you can re-center after completing
something or getting rattled, the better. Again, this isn’t to say you should never
rest, or that you’ll never have moments where the dog creeps back around the corner
and stares at you with unblinking eyes. It’s to say that, with this focus on moving
forward, you’ll feel more confident in handling it when it does. Make a promise to yourself:
You’re not unmotivated. You’re not lazy. You’re not bored. You are afraid. We are all afraid. And yet, we are still here. So every day, choose to be here, moving forward.
