“BANG!”  The guns fired in a cluster.  The start of a race sponsored by Nike?  Not exactly.  The most famous sports marketing slogan in the world has got to be Nike’s, “Just do it.“   But it has a dark back story…

Just do it. made Wieden+Kennedy in Portland, OR one of the largest and most successful advertising agencies in the world.  Nike remains one of their most important clients too this day.  Dan Wieden of W+K came up with Just Do It after reading the story of Gary Gilmore, whose brother Mikal was an influential writer for Rolling Stone.  Gary was not an elite athlete.  No, Gary was about to be executed for killing some nice Mormon people in cold blood in the great state of Utah.  Gary’s final words on that day in 1977 as the firing squad was about to do their thing was, “let’s do it.”  Mikal later wrote a memoir called Shot in the Heart.

Something about let’s do it resonated with Dan Wieden.  “In the face of that much uncertainty, how do you push through that, you know,” Dan later recounted in an interview.  He says he changed Gary Gilmore’s, “Let’s do it,” to, “Just do it,” so that he didn’t have to worry about any legal ramifications.  It’s not clear what those legal ramifications could be, seeing as the plaintiff would be a dead convicted Mormon murderer…  Anyway,  I’m sure Dan thought Just do it had a better ring to it anyway.  The phrase said, “no excuses, quit talking about it, there is nothing in your way, now go, the results aren’t important now, get going…now.”

I think Gary Gilmore’s, “let’s do it,” is a better credo in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to business, adventure, and experiencing life.  In fact I think that just about everything in life is better enjoyed with a friend, especially someone very close, and yet I’m surprised by how many of us go it alone.  I am launching a new project here in the next couple of weeks, and I need your help.  I need your stories.  I have a couple of questions:

1. What is something you did (a challenge) that you initially tried to tackle yourself, but eventually succeeded with the help of a friend, lover, family member, etc.?
2. Did you have to convince this person to join your vision, your dream?  What was it and how did you do it?

Please just do it for me.  Thanks in advance.