Just Do It

Other than the "I Wanna be Like Mike" campaign, Nike has never had a more memorable marketing strategy than three simple words: Just Do It.

Not only was it short, sweet and to the point, the slogan applied to many aspects in life. You want to buy a house? Just Do It. Want to lose those twenty pounds? Just Do It. Do you want financial security, a nest egg and something to leave your children? It is possible. All you have to do is set your mind to it.

What good is being young if you just do what someone else tells you to do? Do you remember when you were six or seven and all you ever wanted to do was become a comic book artist like the legendary Stan Lee? So why then are you working in corporate America as a mailroom clerk with an MBA?

Because you haven't reprogrammed your thinking. If you can believe it, you can achieve it. I know I can be what I want to be. These are just two mantras that can help reprogram your mindset. You have to get back to where you were when you were six and you just knew you could fly and you jumped off the roof of your house. Sure, you can't just leap off your roof, but maybe you need to be a pilot. In order to know what you need to be doing to be happy, you need to be really honest with yourself. That might be the hardest part.

After you've decided what you're gonna do, make a plan and research the best way to do whatever it is. If you want to write screenplays, study the moves made by current (and successful) screenwriters. If you want to become a sports agent, or a catalogue model, a middle school history teacher or the owner of your own business, you've got to do your homework. If you're not motivated, go back to the drawing board. Just don't stay in the planning phase.

Fear of your failure or success can be a powerful paralytic. But you only get one life, so why should you have an okay life when you could be higher than the moon because you're doing what makes you happy? Find what it is and just do it.