Here Comes Treble: Three Little Words
Get those unpleasant chores done, advises Isabel Bradley, then enjoy almost unlimited hours in which to do those things that make life worthwhile.
Three little words have become a part of many people’s vocabulary: “Just Do It!” I hear these words wherever I go.
“I don’t worry about Wednesday night suppers any more, I buy ready-cooked chicken, and when I get home I just do it.”
“I wish the conductor would stop talking about how he’s going to interpret this work, and just do it!”
“I think I should stop fretting about when I should join the gym – it’s only six hundred rand, a once-off payment – I should just do it.”
The uses for this phrase are many and varied; all say that we should stop fretting about the unpleasant things of life, as the sooner they are dealt with the sooner we can enjoy more pleasant tasks.
How often do we put off doing things, until they loom large in our lives, take up all our energy by consuming us with worry? When we finally “just do it”, invariably this supposedly massive undertaking turns into a task that is perfectly manageable. “Why didn’t I just do this hours, days, weeks, months, or even years ago?” we wonder.
“Just doing” any chore that we’re tempted to leave until tomorrow gets the unpleasant action out of the way, leaving time for things we enjoy – without our consciences nagging.
Making my bed was the most unpleasant duty every morning of my childhood. Each day, Mum would heave a sigh before telling me to “Just make the bed and don’t make such a fuss! Once it’s done, you won’t have to do it again until tomorrow morning. It will only take a moment. If you do the horrid things first, you can have fun for the rest of the day!”
What really convinced me, however, was seeing the words painted on a car parked outside the gym. Every morning I stared through the large picture window at the command, “Just Do It!” for twenty minutes as I sweated on the treadmill.
For months, I’d been waiting for the “right time” to leave a marriage that was over. When that advert had nagged at me for a few weeks, one morning I went home and “just did it” – told my husband I was leaving, packed my bags and left. It was the best thing I’d done in many years, for myself, for my ex-husband, for my children.
Since then, whenever I’ve had to do something unpleasant, boring, or downright nasty, I remember the slogan, “Just do it”. That’s all it takes to get me to act. Those three little words nudge me daily to perform the disagreeable tasks early so that I have almost unlimited hours in which to do those things that make life worth living.
Until next week, when it’s time to “just do” another column – “here comes Treble!”
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