The phrase was coined by Dan Wieden* in 1988, and has, I’m sure, become ingrained in the minds of millions of people – as well as indelibly linked to the Nike ‘tick’, formally know as the Swoosh.

Advertising makes millions based on it’s understanding of the power of words, the promotion of an idea, the planting of a seed. Those 3 words” “Just Do It” were 20 years old in July 2008, and amoungst other things, have been cited as inspiring people to: “…leave abusive husbands and achieve heroic feats.” (source, Oregon live.com)

Those words were on my mind a few weeks back,  inspired by the frustration of coming face-2-face with a missed opportunity which seemed to have happened merely because someone chose not to ‘Just Do It’, not to speak up, not to take a risk…only to appear still, years later, to have some lingering reflection/regret of what might have been.

The words are back on my mind today, as I digest news I received recently that will mean big changes, big changes. The temptation is there to not take the risk, to question the craziness of decisions which will soon have to be made, to wonder how on earth this has all finally come together…The desire is also there to ‘Just Do It’.

Yes those words are part of an ad campaign to ‘make’ us want to buy trainers, and other sporting goods, yes they are used imaginatively/manipulatively to create profit for a commercial business giant, but they surely only have that power as they sum up the longing of some, maybe many of us, who wished we had, could, or would just do something. Un-hinder ourselves, take the risk, risk being vulnerable, pluck up the courage, change something, and just do whatever ‘it’ is.

I feel as if I’m now sounding like I’m giving a pep talk, Janice’s motivation 101 so I’m gonna leave it there.

*It was agency co-founder Dan Wieden who coined the now-famous slogan “Just Do It” for a 1988 Nike ad campaign, which was chosen by Advertising Age as one of the top five ad slogans of the 20th century, and the campaign has been enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution.^[9] San Franciscan Walt Stack was featured in Nike’s first “Just Do It” advertisement that debuted on July 1, 1988.^[10] Wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to “Let’s do it”, the last words spoken by Gary Gilmore before he was executed.^[11]

Where is your Future? Here in your Present, grab it!…

I think it was prompted by a talk I was preparing in which I referenced Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Need’ (Abraham Maslow)*

This theory of motivation, provides a mechanism for looking at human self/personal development and basically suggests that there are certain needs that all humans have, and that the higher ones are only met once the lower ones are.

I think my mind was particularly interested by the 4th level ‘Esteem Needs’, and what it might mean if those needs were unmet. Would this lead to your personal development being stunted, put on hold, arrested?

As I began by saying, I’m stewing on: Arrested Development…

*First published in 1943, and one of the most popular and often cited theories of human motivation.

Hungry to be Heard by Jarra McGrath (click on picture for full explanation)

I’d suggest that we spend our days trying to be heard in one way or another.

Some of us use writing, some music, art, dance, photography etc and even our silence can speak loudly for us.

I would also suggest that in our daily life our jobs speak for us, our relationships with family, friends, work colleagues and even the passerby speak for us, our choices etc. Sometimes not in the way we would like or intend, yet speaking for us nevertheless.

I started this post because I had been inspired by a young lady who has had problems with her throat for which she had to have an operation. Since late last year, she has literally not really had a voice. I think she may have sung before, but at present that is not an option for her. (I will hopefully include more about her in another post).

I can only attempt to imagine how frustrating that might be, and how it might feel to have your voice taken away.

So as I thought more about this post I decided to do a search online under: “finding your voice”. I was hoping to find some piece of research to include that talked about how important it is to be heard. The majority of the results were related to finding your voice as a writer, actor or artist, and also some related to organisations or efforts to help those who have no voice or need others to speak up for them.

I then decided to try another search: “need to be heard”. This produced a mix of results from those related to people, groups, causes, and countries where there is some injustice that needs speaking about, to personal blogs where people express their ‘need to be heard’. (It was during this search that I found the above image by Jarra McGrath ).

I eventually ended up clicking a link which referred to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need*, in particular the ‘ego need’ – original classification ‘esteem needs’ – stating that it involved ‘the need to be heard, to be appreciated, and to be wanted’.

I studied Maslow’s model at school, and this had me delving into different articles on his model and his work, and slightly sidetracked from the focus of the post.

So how can I tie this all together?

I repeat my opening line that I believe that everybody wants to be heard. Add to that our ‘dip’ into Maslow, and the suggestion one of our needs is to be heard… Also consider my google searches:

• ‘finding your voice’ 103,000 for “finding your voice“. (0.31 seconds)
• ‘need to be heard’ 4,060,000 for “need to be heard“. (0.17 seconds)

And finally, I’ll go back to the young lady who was mentioned earlier and the original inspiration for this post.

Unable to use her literal voice, she has taught herself a new craft – crossstitch. She is making works of art that are expressing something of her creativity, and I would suggest that she has found a new way to find her voice.

Have you found yours?

*Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was an American Pschologist who developed this model (originally proposed in his paper ‘A Theory of Human Motivation’ and initially developed during 1943-1954). It’s aim was to look at, and provide an framework to understanding human motivation. His model was, and to a great extent is still widely accepted as a valid model and has been particularly used in the business world, for e.g. management training, workplace environment, enablement of employees to fulfil their potential.

If you want more information an online search will provide you with lots of links, or you could check out one of the articles I read here: http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm