Spectating Sucks

In 1988, Nike introduced the “Just Do It” slogan. The tagline ushered in the era of Air Jordan shoes and on its one swoosh the goddess company soared. Almost forty years later, the sentiment still sells gear while rolling off our tongues.

Dan Wieden, co-founder of Wieden + Kennedy, the independent advertising agency whose first client was the Oregon-based sportswear brand that boasts the swoosh-known-‘round- the-world was the creator of the “Just Do It” campaign. He stole the idea for the motto from a death-row inmate he read about who said, on the precipice of execution, “You know, let’s just do it.”

Despite the grisly origin, the slogan continues to thrive.

“Just Do It” works because it’s sticky. It works because it’s simple. And it works because it applies to everything and everybody everywhere. It does not ask permission or beg forgiveness. It just rucks up its sleeves and gets down to business. Regardless of the situation, those basic three words turn an “as is” into a “will be.”  Power surges through the catchphrase on the two-letter verb that ties “just” and “it” together.  

Do.

Don’t watch. Don’t scroll. Don’t call mom or dad. Don’t read. Don’t think. Don’t wonder, wait, or second-guess. Don’t post. Don’t save. Don’t comment. Don’t care too much, and definitely don’t procrastinate. 

Act. Create. Hit. Run. Grind. Produce. Solve. Serve. Believe. Trust. Work. 

When passive bumps into active, the fire of choice begins. Hope collides with reality letting oxygen burst in. This is how Ah-Ha is born.

There is a time, of course, to research and ponder. A period during which we must absorb. Ingestion is one of the many ways we learn. But it can be tempting in this information age of immediate access, to sit on the couch and stay there. Taking in... and taking in... and taking in... and taking in. How do you know when you’re full? So much is constantly coming at us from so many different directions, it almost feels irresponsible not to look, listen, learn. It seems silly not to hold a bucket out to catch the rain.

But what will we do with what we consume? That’s what really matters. 

Perhaps we’ve passed the tipping point. Our kids now watch shows of other kids playing, instead of playing themselves. We watch people cook, instead of cooking. We watch people renovate houses, instead of renovating. We watch others sing and dance and even try to fall in love, instead of singing and dancing and giving ourselves a chance to fall in love. We’ve become idle sideline observers. In so doing, we’re missing out on the very best part. The trial and error. The joy of discovering. The who-knows-what-might-happen-next life.

Passive learning has a place, but it also has a lid. Knowledge applied is how capacity gets carved. It’s how we change and grow. How we get bumped, bruised and scarred. Such sculpting requires gumption, though. And effort. And an openness for feedback. The reward for active participation is a whole new realm. When we try to hit the curveball, get the Gerber daisies to grow, refinish the bathroom cabinets, crochet the baby blanket, rebuild the carburetor, we’re granted access to a world of possibilities not available to those who watch and wait and comment. “Do” gets you in the door to a life spectators can’t comprehend.

The guts of a thing—the slip and fall, the senseless mess, the grueling groping in the dark—is where the treasure lies. Experience, a thing you can only get by doing, holds the holy grail.

P.S. Just Do It.