One of our favorite sayings around the house is “do or do not there is no try” that and “get on with it”. I have heard folks say, I want my kids to try

Do or do not, There is no try

YodA – The Empire Strikes Back

WARNING: y’all are dealing with an engineer, so of course we are going to analyze this. Would you expect any less?

To start with, let’s consider “try.” According to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘try’ as a verb is defined as “an effort to accomplish, an attempt.” In other words, try is loosely translated as ‘to get started towards a goal, a mission, a thing that you want to accomplish’. So for instance, I am am going to try to cook dinner. This statement lacks the power of completeness. It only tells you that I am going to get started.

try: make an attempt or effort to do something

The Oxford Dictionary

On the other hand, The verb “do’ from the same source defines “do” as “perform; achieve or complete”. Loosely translated, this means I will start and finish what I am going to do. (Start is implied, I can’t finish without starting at least once). Now if I say ‘I am cooking dinner’ (the implied form of ‘do’), I have now just said this action will happen. I have given completeness to my action.

do: perform (an action, the precise nature of which is often unspecified); achieve or complete.

The Oxford Dictionary

This distinction may seem minor, but it has a big impact. I will not claim to be an expert in psychology, nor an expert on why this is true, as there are many books on leadership that delve into this subject, but I will ask you to think about the power in the difference between these two words. As a certified coach (not to be confused with certifiable, though at times my players may consider me certifiable), how does my team react if before a game I say “Let’s try and win this game!” vs “Let’s do this!” While the outcome intended for both sentences is the same, the interpretation by the receiver is different! In the former, the use of try lacks the confidence and belief that winning the game an option. In the latter clearly winning the game is the goal.

Think about this with your own self-talk. If you grew up in the cartoon age, the angel and devil sitting on the character’s shoulders. The power in using “Do” is many times the difference between achieving a goal and wanting to achieve a goal.

I challenge you to if you are not already, be very intentional on using the word “try” in your self-talk. The first step is not to eliminate the word “try” but to be intentional when “try” is appropriate and when “do” is clearly more appropriate. You may be surprised how much you use the word “try”, I was!

Let’s be clear, what I am not saying is that when we “do” something we get started, get it right the first time and complete the action all at one time. Heavens no! There is an art to ‘doing’.

In my next post, we will pick up on the Art of doing, as for now, we will try again tomorrow…..