Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ slogan is the perfect reminder to succeed
Jennifer Zeleski // Staff Writer
I still remember what I refer to as my first “official” run. It was in October of 2014, just a few weeks after attempting to run with a new friend during my freshman year of college. I could hardly keep up with her pace for two laps around an indoor track. I logged my first mile at a speedy 11 minutes and 35 seconds in a broken-in pair of Nike Free Runs that I had only formerly worn to accommodate my casual fashion sense. I would love to say that was the day I decided to be a “runner” and committed myself to making healthier life choices and pursuing bigger goals, but it wasn’t.
In short, running was hard. It burned my lungs, hurt my muscles and made me feel uncomfortable for not being in shape. I had never been athletic, and these short spurts of determination weren’t changing that.
For 16 months afterward, my runs made it to one mile each, sometimes less if I let myself give into the negative mindset working against me. My runs were inconsistent and exhausting, and I didn’t consider it a form of adequate exercise since I truly wasn’t doing my best. But in February of 2016, something changed. Somehow I became determined to make running a better experience.
Two years ago at the beginning of February, I ran two miles non-stop for the first time. Luckily my pace was a little quicker than the original. I traded my Nikes for a more supportive brand, and made a promise to myself that I would get use out of them. In the months following, I slowly and steadily worked my way up to running more than 30 miles a month, at about two miles per run. By the end of 2016, I ended up running in three different 5K races. Before these, I had only ever walked a 5K.
So why am I telling you all of this? Although it may seem like it, it isn’t to brag or boast about a “how I fell in love with running” story. It’s about inspiration, motivation and determination.
Nike’s slogan has been “Just Do It” for as long as I can remember. They’ve had the same swoosh logo since I was the not-so-cool 7th grader with my Nike shocks that served no athletic purpose for me. I never really felt the impact of the statement until I became more aware of how their marketing simplicity made so much sense.
I often think it would be ludicrous for me to say running has made me set bigger goals, achieve better things and overcome obstacles in my life. But has it not made me do such things? By following the mindset of “Just Do It,” I am forced to hold myself accountable for actions that I may not have completed before. I have put myself in positions where I need to make decisions and not disappoint myself or others, and I have set myself up for some of the most influential instances in my life.
When you decide to “Just Do It,” you put aside all of the factors that may convince you out of it. You shut your negative mindset off and decide to push through whether you like it or not.
In college, we are placed in a multitude of situations where we have the choice of whether or not we will “Just Do It.” It can be as simple as making a healthier choice for lunch, and as scary as submitting a cover letter to a job you think is impossible to obtain. But more importantly, it can be the difference between you convincing yourself that you can do it, rather than letting yourself believe that you can’t.
Success is about putting yourself out there and taking every step forward that you possibly can. When I was only running one mile at a time or telling myself I couldn’t make it, I was only preventing myself from the potential I could eventually fulfill. I wasn’t thinking about every step as momentum to push me forward to where I am now. At the end of the day, I could say “I did it,” rather than “I gave up.”
Nike’s simple slogan for motivation is nothing short of exactly what you need to tell yourself to get over your complaints, self-doubts or anything in between. It is not the answer to everything, and some things might not work out, but how will you know if you do not try?
For months, the company itself has funded an impressive amount of research into breaking the two hour barrier for the 26.2-mile men’s marathon, known as “Breaking2.” On May 6, 2017, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya came up just 26 seconds short of being under the two-hour mark. Even though Nike didn’t technically achieve its original goal, they still pursued it. They still fought for it, and so did their elite team of runners, instead of sitting back and letting someone else try it first.
So here’s the challenge. I’m not going to tell you that you need to run. You don’t even have to walk, but put yourself in a situation where you need change in your life and decide to “Just Do It.”
Whether it’s taking that next step to move forward, or just turning around to close a door to something that is no longer an option. You may just surprise yourself and one day end up in a position you never imagined, or as a version of yourself you never knew existed. You could give up at a half a mile, or you could give up at your eight-mile marker, but at least make it to the starting line.