Hey - Just Do It

There can be many frustrations in business and more especially in management.

Lots of us, in these roles, get irritated by the smallest things - often these things seem to be about others and, in truth, are just about ourselves.

Getting honest about this is one of the biggest challenges we have.

Sometimes, it's vital to cast all our doubts and fears to one side and get on with it.

The more polite shortening of this is 'JDI' - otherwise known as 'Just Do It'.

In this little article, we'll explore more about JDI and how this weekend, it made a magnificent difference to a small town on the Scottish/English borders.

Manager Rowan Alexander says he never wants to leave Gretna.

In four years, this little Scottish football team have moved from the incredibly unknown non-professional league called the Unibond League, to the Scottish First Division (next season) and as of this weekend, their 3-0 win over Dundee led them to the Scottish Cup Final.

Never before has a team from the Scottish Second Division got there. And they are not expecting to stop progressing till they achieve Premier League status, hopefully sometime in 2007.

Already, due to their win and that of Hearts in the second semi-final on Sunday, Gretna are assured of European football next season (as long as Hearts stay 2nd in the Scottish Premier League!)

When asked how they had achieved this, Alexander, manager since those heady days back in the Unibond, says, "We don't talk about things here, we do it. Nothing negative, everything is positive."

If ever there was a time when a state of expectations, meeting with application and wonderfully supportive, encouraging and developmental management came to fruition, then surely Gretna is it.

Sometimes the seemingly 'unachievable' is so very achievable. We just get in our own way, prevaricating with reason after reason why we shouldn't, can't or mustn't.

We fear possible outcomes which might not achieve our goals - blindly forgetting that if we don't try, we are certain of failure.

I once worked with a client who told me that he prevaricated because at least if he didn't try, he wouldn't fail and the hope and dream he had would still be there.

It had taken years of practice to reach this state of inertia - it took but a few coaching sessions to encourage him that using a JDI approach would not be life-threatening.

This week you have the opportunity to move on those things you have been putting off, for whatever reason.

Let's call it an amnesty.

Give yourself permission for slipping out of your comfort zone and into action. It might not be as chilling an experience as you may think.

Want another spin on JDI? Checkout this article that I wrote a few months ago.