I do like the hope and anticipation that tends to come at the start of a new year. You know that feeling? It’s like this optimism and determination to make positive changes in your life. However, I am a firm believer that we can create these types of feelings and excitement within ourselves any time of the year. We just have to decide and create the energy needed in that moment. It’s so common that many of us get excited to make changes at the start of a new year and then it just seems to fizzle out. 

So this is why I am back to talk about the concept of “Do it Anyway”. This is such an important concept for being able to accomplish things that you want to do. It is also extremely important for being able to get things done that perhaps you aren’t feeling all that motivated about but need to do.

Do it anyway are 3 simple words, but they are so powerful and can become a mindset for you to follow just like I have. You just have to decide to embrace it. Then practice it to make it more of your habitual mindset. 

I have been using these 3 words in my own life for some time now and it really has made such a positive impact. Recently I listened to a podcast by Mel Robbins and she was talking about why Nike’s slogan – Just Do It, is so powerful. The most powerful word in that slogan is “Just”. Just creates space for all the feelings and individual battles each of us encounters in doing something. The word just is what gives this slogan the power to stand the test of time. 

I believe the same about Do it Anyway. The words do it are obvious just like the Nike example. Those words create the desire for action. But the word anyway is what creates space for everything that tries to get in the way of what you want to do and doing it.

If I am scared. Do it anyway.

If I am worried about making a mistake. Do it anyway. 

If I am tired and don’t feel like it. Do it anyway. 

If I am nervous. Do it anyway. 

If I am unsure. Do it anyway.

That one word anyway, gives me a breath. A pause to say, I know this is hard, I know this is difficult. But we are going to do it anyway.

Obviously, I would never be advocating to do things that may not be in your best interest and give you advice to do it anyway. I am talking about actions that your higher brain knows would move you in the right direction but your lower brain fights you every step of the way. 

An impactful question you can use to distinguish this is by asking yourself…Does this action move me toward long-term success or short-term pleasure?

Once you have decided what is best for you to do, this doesn’t often change. No, what we try to do is change the thing rather than change our thoughts about it. What do I mean? Ok, let’s say I want to lose 10 lbs of body fat this year. It’s very likely that this goal will not just go away without my achieving it. But what our primitive brain has us doing is convincing us it is too hard, and so the easier way to be compassionate is to change the goal. We do this all the time. Year after year, we quit on our goals or change them. 

What I am saying, is don’t change the goal. Find a way to keep pushing forward. Regardless if the journey doesn’t look exactly as you planned. 

Decide on a goal. For me, I want to lose 10 lbs of body fat.

Decide why it matters. For me, I want to improve my bloodwork numbers so that I make a positive impact on my healthspan.  

So I take this one goal of mine. I break it down into the micro steps I’ll need to accomplish over the next 90 days to get the momentum started and begin to form habits. 

So for example, if I want to lose 10lbs body fat I will need to focus first on these few things over the next 90 days. 

Establish my eating protocol which includes what foods and drinks I will consume more of and what I will consume less of. 

Determine my fasting window. 

Establish the number of days and duration to exercise and what that exercise will consist of. Such as a mixture of cardio and strength training.

Place importance on my self-care routine. Journaling and meditating to improve my emotional mindset.  

That is my roadmap for the next 90 days, to keep doing it anyway even when my brain offers me a detour. 

This is the secret. To keep taking action. Even when you don’t feel like it. What happens when we keep taking action is that we form habits. I mean think about it. You’ve probably brushed your teeth for so many days straight, years straight right? You’ve done it so much that if you skipped a day it would feel so strange and you’d want to do that as soon as possible to get back on track. Why would any other action in our life be any different? It is our minds. We allow it to look different. It’s the little quits that take us off course. 

You know years ago I wanted to start a goal of regular reading and to aim for so many books a year. Well, that wasn’t just going to happen. I had to take that one goal and say ok, I will read a chapter a night before bed. I’ve done that action for so many years now that when I don’t I feel like I am forgetting something. It takes time to form the habits. It can take far fewer days of skipping to break a habit. So we just have to know this and be aware of this. 

Take action no matter what. I am not talking about shaming yourself because you missed one day. I am saying to be mindful that if you skip too many times you are undoing the habit. So, stay focused and do it anyway for all those little reasons that come up that aren’t really justified. 

Understand that your primitive lower brain will never stop doing what it was made to do. Seek pleasure, and comfort and exert little energy. So unless your goals consist of binge-watching TV shows all day and eating as many Oreos as possible, you are going to have mind drama and the answer for this can be as simple as practicing a mindset of Do it Anyway.

As I am sitting here right now, it is 2:00 in the afternoon and I have been planning on getting a workout in all day today. I had planned to ride my bike trainer for 30-45 minutes, and since 9:00 this morning, my helpful roommate in this brain of mine has been telling me to do a million other things. Watch a mastermind video I have been wanting to watch. Load the dishwasher. Go do some online shopping for a new area rug. Listen to music, and read a chapter in my book. I am serious. My brain just keeps offering me all these other things besides the very thing I had planned and wanted to do. 

I even have my reasons for why. I want to exercise regularly to get my heart rate up, to make myself stronger, and to improve my health numbers. Lower my cholesterol, and lose the extra pounds I put on this year so I can feel a little more comfortable in my clothes. So I have my compelling reasons for why that matter to me. And yet here I sit, now writing this content. Doing everything but getting on that bike. 

Do you know why this is happening? Because my primitive brain thinks that sounds hard and all this other stuff sounds easy. Isn’t that fascinating? Every one of us is different but in so many ways when it comes to getting things done, we are very much the same. 

So this is where the rubber meets the road. What are you going to do Carisa? Well, right now I am going to stop writing and I am going to go get on that damn bike. And the whole way up those stairs as my brain tells me NO!!! I am going to say, it’s ok. You don’t have to want to do this. You don’t have to like this. You can even grumble the whole time. We are going to do it anyway. But a little trick, once you get started. Your brain comes online and when you are done, it will say damn, look at what we did. And it will feel a bit better for doing it. Isn’t that hilarious!!

So the lesson learned in all this is that you just have to calm your brain down and say get on board with me brain. Because we are doing this anyway. Because it is what I planned to do. It is what I wanted to do and it is what I agreed to because it was best for me. 

Like it or not, we are going to do this. We are going to keep moving forward. We are going to do it anyway. 

If you are someone you know is having trouble getting traction on your goals, I encourage you to give yourself a gift this coming year and request a discovery session with me. Just visit LifeCoachingwithCarisa.com and send a request for a time slot of your choosing. I have been there, I’ve done the work and I can help you get there too. 

“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.”

Jerry Rice