“Do it anyway.”

Chris Williamson, Modern Wisdom

Reflections

“Do it anyway.”

This mantra is a softer, kinder alternative to Nike’s famous “Just do it” slogan. It allows for grace. It expresses the value of showing up, even in the face of uncertainty and doubt. Do it because you can. Show up for yourself even when you don’t feel like it. You’ll be glad you did.

I promise, you won’t regret failing. In the moment, you might be disappointed with the outcome, but you won’t regret the effort. What is certain is that you will regret not trying. You’ll never know until you do.

Disappointment is temporary; regret is forever.

Failure is irrelevant unless it’s catastrophic. Fail often; iterate quickly. Make progress the goal. Progress over perfection.

With each failure, ask yourself: What did I learn that can help me as I keep pushing forward?

Try, try, and try again. Learn through experience. To learn is to grow, and growth is the essence of life. At the end of the day, it’s not about what you achieved, it’s about what you learned in the process of striving to achieve.

When things get hard, think to yourself, “Do it anyway.” It’s a mantra that offers compassion rather than judgement. It acknowledges your feelings without letting them get in the way of your desire to do something.

In the words of Andy Glaze:

“We’re all just one decision away from a completely different life; not one dramatic decision, just one small choice to move forward instead of staying stuck. Each day, there is an opportunity to choose growth over comfort, hope over despair, and movement over stagnation. If growth happens in the space between “I can’t” and “I did,” we must choose to move, to try, to believe that change is possible.

When you push through discomfort, you learn that most of your limitations are self-imposed stories, not biological facts. So, refuse to accept your current limitations as permanent and do the hard thing daily, even if the only witness to your effort is yourself and the only reward is the knowledge that you didn’t quit when quitting would have been easier. Hard things show you the gap between what you thought was possible and what actually is possible when you refuse to quit.

Choose to move, because movement changes everything, and you are capable of more than you think.”

Do it anyway. You’ll be glad you did.