Article inspiration by way of my long time dear friend Jade T.

Leaving The “Gone-Do” Tribe

What is it about people and their fascination with the phrase “I’m gonna do this” or “I’m gonna do that”?  How come most people just don’t simple DO instead of actively participating in the GONNA-DO lifestyle?  What’s holding them back?  Is it really that hard to muster up the courage & strength to just DO?  Or are most people just fascinated with the thought of what could be done while being terrified of the action of getting it done?  These are just things I find myself wondering as I move through life.

One of my favorite slogan’s of all time is Nike’s slogan of JUST DO IT!  Those three little words combined together present one of the most powerful motivational phrases of all time.  That phrase simply encourages people to face their fears & move towards their goals at all costs.  The phrase does not suggest moving towards one’s goals shall be easy or overly complicated; it just suggests for a person to find a way to get it done.  Unfortunately, only a small number people actually recognize its true meaning & actually get ‘it’ done.

As I progress through my daily journey on this adventure called life I find myself encountering more & more members of the Gone-Do Tribe.  The Gone-Do Tribe is possibly the largest segment of the American population consisting of a vast mix of races, creeds, backgrounds, religions, orientations, etc.  Every walk of life is represented in the Gone-Do Tribe.  To be honest, I too was a member wandering aimlessly at one point in my life full of wishful thinking & the lack of desire to see these thoughts all the way to fruition…but then I woke up.  It didn’t take the birth of my son, me joining the 30+ club, or some life altering event to wake me up.  I woke up oneday in the comfort of my own home, got dressed, drove to work, went to my desk, & before I started my daily routine I just asked myself…what the hell am I really doing?

What the hell was I really doing?

Like many of you out there, I was living life & going through the motions.  I had dreams, goals, & plans just like every other person in the world except I came to realize that I wasn’t putting my all into pursuing these goals as I vividly saw myself doing in my mind.  I knew where I wanted to go & how I wanted to be within a certain time frame but taking that image in my mind & forcing it to become a reality proved to be more of a challenge than I was willing to admit.  Instead of taking immediate action in the form of baby steps in order to build momentum, I would find myself thinking “I’m gonna do it later” or “I got time” or something along those lines.  Reality was, I was simply formulating what I convinced myself to be legit excuses into why these matters weren’t of an urgent necessity because deep down inside, putting in the work to make those thoughts become a reality simply terrified me almost to the point of mental paralysis.  And this is why I believe so many people have elected to join or stay loyal to the Gone-Do Tribe.

Becoming mentally paralyzed amongst a group of other mentally paralyzed people can be contagious & comforting at the same time.  When you find yourself surrounded by like-minded thinkers it presents an environment full of warm & fuzzies because everybody ‘understands’ each other.  They understand what it’s like to want & to aspire to be more while also comprehending how hard converting those thoughts into a reality can be.  People get extremely excited about losing weight at the start of a new year all of the time.  When the new year rolls around, instead of seeking out the association of people who are where they envision themselves being, after a while the contagious & mentally paralyzing ‘friends’ return to offer them more comfort in the form of soothing phrases like “you can’t do that”, “it’s too hard”, “do you really want to do that”, “hey, come chill with us“.  So a Gone-Do member hears these words and these words ring in their ears as if their significant other was whispering sweet-nothings.  To no surprise, often times IT IS the significant other offering up the mental paralysis of sweet tidbits.

So, how does one escape the Gone-Do Tribe?

I could compose a rather lenghty detailed list of steps one could take to make their formal exit from the Gone-Do Tribe, but I’m not.  I’m not offering up this advice because I want to hold the ‘secrets’ to success or anything ridiculous like that.  My goal in writing this article is possibly to inject a new line of questioning into your concious for the simple reason of hopefully getting YOU to stir up your own thoughts as to how you possibly ended up in the Gone-Do Tribe & how you can make your break from them.  A few things I’ve learned in life thus far is that giving out the answer is often too easy & people do not tend to appreciate the value in the solution as much as they would had they figured it out on their own.  We all love the idea of being an originator even when there is very little originality left in the world.  So laying out my escape plan to the masses would either go unheard, not respected, laughed at, or not believed.  But I’ll tell you this…it all started with me reflecting back to that Nike slogan of JUST DO IT!

In closing, when you find yourself waking up to prepare for a day in the cubicle farm or simply strolling through your day with no pressing issues invading your thoughts every 5 minutes about what life COULD be like…just perform a self assessment of yourself to see if you are truly happy with where you are in life.  Ask yourself if you are really doing all you can to turn your dreams into a reality.  Identify what is holding you back.  Examine why you are allowing this thing or things to impede your progress.  Then look around and pay attention to how many people you associate with that share your thoughts and lack of will power.  Sit back and just take it all in.  Once you’ve done all of that, look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself “Am I ready leave the Gone-Do Tribe?”

Leaving the Gone-Do Tribe to join the ranks of the DO Tribe takes courage & hard work & often times is beyond the comprehension of Gone-Do Tribe members…but the rewards are…well, you’ll just have to step out & see for yourself.

“We only get 1 life to live but we get infinite chances to live the best life we possibly can.”

If you’re in the Gone-Do Tribe, how do you plan to escape?  If you have escaped to join the DO Tribe, what did you do to leave?  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

photo credit:  Thomas Hawk