What The Matrix Can Tell Us About Traction or Why “Just Do It” Doesn’t Do It

by | Sep 21, 2014

The Matrix PosterI’ve been watching The Ultimate Matrix, a mind-bending 10 DVD package of all three Matrix films plus a week’s worth of special features, including six hours of commentary by philosophers Ken Wilber and Cornell West.

Do I know how to have fun, or what?

Anyhow, one scene from the first film struck me as particularly pertinent to the problem of getting traction on the things that matter.

After receiving his martial arts training, Neo faces Morpheus for a test of skill. In the midst of the fight, they stop for a second.

Morpheus: What are you waiting for?! You’re faster than this. Don’t think you are. Know you are.

They begin fighting again; Morpheus keeps on trying to get Neo to improve.

Morpheus: Come on! Stop trying to hit me and hit me!

I think one reason we don’t get traction with the things that matter is that we wait to take action until we think we are ready, when the knowledge that we are ready can only emerge out of action.

We become preoccupied with trying to get a result, when results can only be achieved when we stop trying and act in the moment.

“Just Do It!” doesn’t do it when you’re caught up in thinking

The injunction, “Just do it!” won’t move you forward, if you’re caught up in your thinking, hyper-focused on whether or not doing it will turn out the way you want.

In fact, the more pressure you put on yourself to do it, when you’re in a pressured state of mind, the more stuck you’re going to get.

Somehow, you need to get out of your mind and into action.

That’s where a mastermind group can make all the difference.

The Come Alive & Do the Thing! Mastermind can get you out of your head and into action

The Come Alive & Do the Thing! Mastermind is a group coaching program for solo-preneurs who:

  • Want support to get your business moving or take it to the next level.
  • Find themselves drawn to certain ideas and actions, but then get lost implementing them, Maybe it’s lack of knowledge (probably not ?) or maybe it’s second-guessing yourself (do ya think? ?), but whatever it is, they’re ready to do it differently.
  • Sense that part of the problem is working alone. Companionship for the journey sounds grand.
  • Know that adding pressure doesn’t help, at least not for long, and they are willing to try a different way—a way that taps into their natural ways of being to generate ideas, action, and momentum.

Click here for details.