As a former perfectionist who still has perfectionist tendencies to manage from time to time, action over analysis, momentum over mastery, is the best advice out there. Therefore, this is my argument for how to get unstuck and get out of our own way, encapsulated in three simple words: “do it stupid”.
Why We Should Do It Stupid
The basic idea behind “do it stupid” is that we can put so many barriers in front of ourselves that we completely self-sabotage our chances of doing anything new. The most common cause for this is our fear of failure or our fear of embarrassing ourselves if things don’t work out, or if we can’t do things perfectly the moment we put our hands to trying something new. The “do it stupid” method is actually a form of behavioural activation and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), packaged in a simple, memorable phrase.
If we’re not careful, our fears can quickly turn into overthinking into a new road never being built. The thing is, unless we were born with savant syndrome or have acquired savant syndrome, none of us is going to be masters at anything we do on our first try.
Think of it in the context of Newton’s second law of motion: “The acceleration of an object depends on the mass of the object and the amount of force applied” (NASA Glenn Research Center, 2024). Using the concept discussed by Deemer, Derosa, Duhon, and Dotterer (2021), this would mean we’re either creating motion with our effort, with that force coming from the attempts we make, either from when we apply “do it stupid” or our need to do things perfectly.
This would mean that a stationary object, something in the state of inertia, is what we’ll be left with if we rely on the force to cause motion, to cause change, which comes from a need to do things perfectly from the get-go. Whereas, if we don’t care about how messy it might be as long as we start, then “to do it stupid” can lead to change. It’s a lot like embracing the wabi-sabi lifestyle.
Cultivating A Non-Judgemental Mindset
In physics, activation energy is the minimum energy required to start a reaction. In behavioural psychology, it’s the mental effort required to start a task. Because it’s not about the outcome, but simply to start. This ridiculously low bar virtually eliminates our mental resistance. Thus, we’re maximising the chance of getting a quick win, which is something we can build on.
The “do it stupid” method is about shifting the focus from quality to quantity. That’s because all too often, failure to achieve a perfect standard leads to shame, self-criticism, and quitting. This can reinforce maladaptive beliefs and core beliefs, like the belief: “I am bad at this” and “I’m bad at everything”. Every attempt, no matter how brief or messy, is a data point. Something we can learn from.
Do It Stupid (For Our Inner Wellbeing)
The “do it stupid” for wellbeing
One thing we need to learn about change and our wellbeing is that we need to ditch the idea that we can instantly optimise our lives, even after reading the content on this blog. The aim isn’t to create the perfect routine, the perfect diet, or the perfect meditative state.
Action over perfection
How often do we find ourselves in a situation where we want to start something new, but our intrusive thoughts take over and convince us not to, or we get lost in finding the perfect gear, get lost in planning, etc?
Say we want to pick up a sport, like football (soccer), to help get more active and meet new people. It’s fine to research where you could find a place that offers that class, but if we’re already looking for the best equipment, we can quickly see the costs spiralling out of control before we’ve even touched a football.
Don’t let such thinking and research stop us from just getting out there and kicking a ball in whatever shoes we have. When I was at school, we often played football with a tennis ball, and we still had fun, and we all sucked.
Take one million and two
Allow ourselves to take as many tries as it takes. Enjoy the act of trying rather than focusing solely on the results. Kim Kardashian takes over 6000 photos before picking one to post on Instagram (Gay, 2016). So why can’t we allow ourselves that many tries? I use this example in therapy a lot when it comes to perfectionism, making mistakes, and helping people to stop self-sabotaging.
Try a “stupid” habit
Most of us likely want to eat healthier, but don’t plan to meal prep for the entire week as our starting point. That’s too “smart” and overwhelming. This can result in our efforts sabotaging us before we even get started. Instead of meal prepping for a whole week, “do it stupid” and eat one vegetable with our dinner tonight. Just one.
I’ve literally taken that approach using the Finch app, where one of my goals for each day is to add one vegetable or fruit to a meal that day. We can also habit stack and work our way up to meal prepping regularly.
The five-minute rule
I recently wrote about the five-minute approach (and the five-second rule), and it’s started to make its way into my work more and more because it can be a useful trick. If we think of something that would benefit us (calling a friend, stretching, writing in a journal), but it feels too big, don’t overthink it; just stupidly commit to it for only five minutes. Action over overthinking, and just “do it stupid” to get that momentum going. Plus, more often than not, once we’ve started something, our motivation kicks in thanks to the completion bias.
Analyse what works
The key is to look back and analyse what worked, rather than getting lost in our cognitive biases, whereby we end up focusing on the failures instead. At the end of the day or week, don’t focus on the things we didn’t do, such as that before work workout. Instead, focus on the “stupid” things we did and how they made us feel. For me, that would be the series of micro workouts I have as my daily goals, which I can sprinkle throughout the day.
There’s also the flipside of this, where we may use a stop-doing list approach, such as how we could acknowledge that we ignored X amounts of out-of-hours work emails. Such boundaries often seem silly, but they can make a huge difference.
Why not also acknowledge other things, but in a quirky way? We could try asking ourselves, “Did I do something cool?” which could also help us to acknowledge if we did something like saying “no” when we wanted to say “no”.
Summary
The problem with being human, arguably the smartest animal on the planet, is that if we always try to do it smart, we’ll get stuck. We’ll spend all our energy researching, planning, and waiting for the “perfect moment” to start, and then never start. Instead, “do it stupid”. Take action now, in small, imperfect, ridiculously low-effort ways, and then learn from the positive feeling of having done something.
What “do it stupid” actions could you start doing today to help yourself get started?
As always, leave your feedback in the comments section below. Also, please share your experiences with applying the “do it stupid” approach in the comments section below as well. Don’t forget, if you want to stay up-to-date with my blog, you can sign up for my newsletter below. Alternatively, click the red bell icon in the bottom right corner to get push notifications for new articles.
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References
Deemer, E. D., Derosa, P. A., Duhon, S. A., & Dotterer, A. M. (2021). Psychological momentum and inertia: toward a model of academic motivation. Journal of Career Development, 48(3), 275-289. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10094087.
Gay, D. (2016, September 15). Kim Kardashian West on how many selfies you should take to get the perfect one. Vogue Australia. Retrieved from https://www.vogue.com.au/celebrity/news/kim-kardashian-west-on-how-many-selfies-you-should-take-to-get-the-perfect-one/news-story/945cdf3fcb667811e4e60d4185ca8366.
NASA Glenn Research Center. (2024, June 27). Newton’s Laws of Motion. Glenn Research Center | NASA. Retrieved from https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/newtons-laws-of-motion.