YOUR PATH TO SUCCESS
2019 ISSUE #1
landlocked countries. I wasn’t the worst
swimmer in the group, for once. We all
sucked. Trust formed quickly. The
instructor asked us to flutter-kick, with our
life-jackets on, in the shallow end. That
was it. The next week, we moved to the
deep end. A month later, I was treading
water. And by the end of eight weeks, I
was doing the front crawl.
How did I learn to swim in only a few
hours when I was terrified of it my whole
life?
Well, here’s what happened. After my first
swimming lesson, the idea that I might be
able to swim crept into my head. I thought
I could do this. And the thrill of flutter-
kicking in the shallow end gave me
motivation to go back next week and see
what else I could do. I wanted to swim
now. I love moldy locker rooms. Give me
the flutter board. I was desperate to get
back.
My Do Line changed from this:
Can Do → Want To Do → Do
To this:
Do → Can Do → Want To Do
Instead of finishing at Do, I started there.
And that made me think I could do it. And
that made me want to do it. Everything
happens backward. You start doing and
confidence and motivation follow.
The Do Circle completely reverses how
most of us operate every day. We think we
need ability and motivation before action.
Otherwise, we’ll fail. It’s how I thought
about swimming for years.
What’s wrong with that thinking?
Well, it keeps undesirable tasks
undesirable because we place our ability to
get them done way down the mine tunnel
at the end of the rickety railways of
self-confidence (Can Do) and inspiration
(Want to Do). What happens? Our most
desirable tasks are placed with big mental
barriers dropped in front of them.
Want to write a book? I’ll take a writing
course. Then find the perfect coffee shop.
Then I’ll write a masterpiece. Wrong.
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Want to write a book? Write one page.
Even if it sucks. The fact you did it will
convince you that you can do it. Then
you’ll want to do it.
Want to start exercising? I’ll save up for a
gym membership and new shoes. Then I’ll
make the perfect playlist. And then find a
gym buddy. Wrong. Want to start
exercising? Run out your front door. Just
run. It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing.
It doesn’t matter how far you go. You
could run to the stop sign in dress shoes.
The fact you did it will convince you that
you can do it. Then you’ll want to do it.
Then you’ll be a confident and motivated
person who buys running shoes for the
next time.
It is easier to act yourself into a new way
of thinking than think yourself into a new
way of action.
Motivation does not cause action like we
all think it does.
Action causes motivation.
Now get going.
Neil Pasricha is the New York Times
best-selling author of The Happiness
Equation and The Book of Awesome
series, which has been published in
10 countries, spent over five years on
best-seller lists, and sold over a million
copies. Pasricha is a Harvard MBA, one
of the most popular TED speakers of
all time, and after 10 years heading
Leadership Development at Walmart he
now serves as Director of The Institute
for Global Happiness. He has dedicated
the past 15 years of his life to developing
leaders, creating global programs inside
the world’s largest companies and
speaking to hundreds of thousands of
people around the globe. He lives in
Toronto with his wife and sons.
globalhappiness.org