I may have mentioned before that when I encounter something accidentally three times, it’s a sign that I need to pay attention to it. Something that has been popping up a lot lately is this motivational idea of “Just do it”.
The core idea is that you need to stop thinking and start doing. Mark Zuckerberg famously described his entrepreneurial mentality as “move fast and break things”–a call to keep moving, and to be okay with making mistakes. St. Joan of Arc said “Act, and God will act”–a call to do anything and if you do it with God, then God will bring good out of it.
I am a notorious overthinker. When I hear “Just do it” I get frustrated because there’s a million things I could just do, and the things I want to do are different from the things I need to do, and thinking helps me make sure that I am doing effectively–I could go on. When I am told “Just do it” my brain goes into overdrive and I don’t do anything.
Excursus: I don’t know if you all realize this, but I am a hypocrite. The main subject matter of this blog is spiritual, and I write what I hope are encouraging and helpful spiritual things and oftentimes fail to internalize them and live them out. I am a weak, sinful man, and I don’t say this out of faux humility–I write here more often than not the things I wish others would tell me, because I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to get to heaven, I know it takes work, and I know I would much rather you all join me there than for me to somehow find my way there on my own. In short: I am a work in progress. I suspect many of you reading this are, too, though no doubt you have a firmer grasp of who you are and what you want than I do sometimes. I write this because it is important context for how I think about motivation and how I think about living our beautiful, wonderful faith. And my thoughts may or may not line up with my words, and both of those may or may not line up with my deeds. It’s just important to point out. I don’t write because I know what I am doing, I am telling you my best guess and I’m hoping you will tell me if my ideas are good or bad.
The source of overthinking–my overthinking anyway–is anxiety and doubt. Am I doing the right thing? or Will it even work? To say Just do it is to ignore a whole encyclopedia of worries that, to my mind at the time, are of equal importance. The cure for overthinking is manifold, but three that come to mind right now are Confidence, Determination, and Discipline.
Confidence is the self-assured state about ones goals and ones ability to reach them. I don’t get anxious about going to the grocery store because I know perfectly well that I have the skills and know how and mental and physical capacity to go to the store, buy what I need to buy, execute the transaction, and go home. I do get anxious about interviews because it is not a sure thing that I have the skills and know how and mental and physical capacity to successfully complete the job. The contrary vice to Confidence is anxiety, because it causes worry about our ability to be accepted. It is a fear of rejection, at it’s root. Saying “Just do it” can help you push past the anxiety but it isn’t a cure for it. Familiarity breeds contempt–some people after pushing past their anxiety will find that there is nothing to fear and everything goes better than expected. Some people might push through and still find that they don’t get the job and still feel rejected. To them, “Just do it” hastened their arrival at rejection, and they will resolve to think more before they “just do” anything.
Determination helps move past this disappointed and rejected feeling stage. This is because determination is the belief that your goals will be achieved. Confidence says your goals are reasonable, Determination says your goals are achievable. It takes no determination to go to the grocery store because I am not experiencing doubt about it, I am not feeling rejected or worried by the goal of getting groceries. I do feel rejected or worried by the goal of getting that job, lets say. If I have just been informed that I did not get the job after that interview I was so anxious about, determination intervenes between me and disappointment and looks to the next interview. “Just do it” can help push past the disappointment and get to determination–it won’t cure disappointment but might help prevent feeling rejected and despondent.
Discipline is the name for this whole cycle of confidence and determination in the face of rejection and disappointment. Discipline is what people mean when they say “keep going”–just do the same thing tomorrow. You might be anxious, but push past it and have confidence. You might get rejected, but push past it and have determination. What helps make all of this possible is a specific goal that you are motivated to achieve, that acts as a sun just below the horizon, and a few more steps will get you sight of the dawn.
The sum of all your goals and ambitions ought to be Heaven. All your worries, disappointments, confidences, and determination should be in the direction of Heaven.
If you are not an overthinker like I am, this is a lot of words to say something very simple: Just do it. If you are an overthinker like I am, this is a lot of words that helps make sense of what “just do it” actually means. God willing it actually helps. God willing, it will actually help me, too.
AMDG
Times-Dispatch of Vichy Earth 