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      You could say that I worked every minute of my life, or you could say with equal precision that I never worked a day. I have always subscribed to the expression, "Thank God it's Friday," because to me Friday means I can work the next two days without interruption. John Hope Franklin, historian    | |   Just Do It?June 4, 2003
Money - or rather lack of it. Is that what's holding you back?
Marnie thought so. She needed $150,000 to start her dream business. After much heartache, she, her husband and their three kids uprooted themselves from the city they loved and moved to a smaller city where house prices were much lower. This freed up the $150,000. She was ready to roll. Now, that's commitment.
Step forward three years. Marnie still hasn't started her business. The money's gone. It's been spent on making alterations to their new home. When she explained this to me on Saturday, she looked embarrassed, for she knew her home mattered less to her than her business.
I've seen this sort of thing many times. As Yoga Berra put it, "It's like déjà vu all over again."
Here is a common pattern. People identify an external barrier - usually money or family commitments - standing between them and a more fulfilling life. They find a way to overcome that barrier, often making big sacrifices to do so. But then they discover that the real barrier is something else. Usually that something else is a complex web of internal barriers. Breaking through is messy and frustratingly slow.
A few lucky people are able to drop their sterile careers and change course overnight. Don't compare yourself to them, for you're probably wired differently. Before you take the plunge, you may need time - years and years, even - to understand what you're really about. (I knew from my first day at law school that I didn't want to be a lawyer. Yet I practiced law for over 15 years. OK, I'm dumb and cowardly, but not that dumb and cowardly. That's just how long these things sometimes take.)
Marnie berates herself for blowing her chance. She believes she should have been able to "just do it." But Nike's slogan is a sales gimmick, not a prescription for living. Since when was personal change a straightforward, logical, yes-no, on-off, 1-0, binary process? We are emotional creatures more than we are rational creatures. We are carbon-based, not silicon-based.
Marnie hasn't blown her chance. She needs to let up on herself. If it's truly important to her, she'll gradually figure out what's holding her back. Then, when the time is ripe, she will, indeed, just do it.
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