Industry Magazine Get JACK'D Magazine Summer 2018 | Page 13

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. 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.
She gave an Obama-like pregnant pause and then said:
“I guess you can’t come.”
That night, for the first time in more 30 years, I signed up for
swimming lessons.
Suddenly, without thinking whether I could do it or whether I
wanted to do it, I just did it.
I signed up for an adult learn-to-swim program, offered by the
City of Toronto, at the Trinity Bellwoods pool. A few weeks later, I
was walking onto the pool deck with my heart thumping. I felt like
running away. But I ended up learning one of the most valuable
lessons of my life instead.
What happened?
Well, within two minutes, I realized I fit in. Who was with me?
People with traumatic experiences. People from 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:
ABOUT NEIL PASRICHA
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
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