BLOG-DO OR DO NOT, NO TRY
Recently, someone I know was complaining about his work situation to my husband. When pushed to explain why something wasn’t done, he said, “I’m trying.”
“Try and stand up,” my husband said.
“What?” our friend responded.
“Try and stand up,” my husband said again.
Laughing, but not sure where this was going, our friend stood.
“You didn’t try,” my husband said. “You just did it.”
We joke about this scenario often and how my husband is so matter-of-fact. He happens to be a business coach and his philosophy is that you take the word “try” out of your vocabulary.
How many of us get stuck in saying:
I’ll try to lose weight.I’ll try to spend more time with my family.I’ll try to spend less money.I’ll try to jump start that dream of mine.
With language like that, it’s likely that none of those things will happen.
Recently, I’ve been doing my own complaining.
I don’t have enough time to work on my novel.
I’ll try to wake up earlier. I’ll try to go to bed earlier. I’ll try to work on my novel a little every day.
Well, trying to do those things turns out to be equivalent to not doing them at all. It’s an excuse. Fortunately, as of four weeks ago, after attending a Tony Robbins workshop, I made a change.
I now set my alarm for 6am.
I work on my novel every morning for at least an hour.
This keeps me in flow. This keeps ideas churning, and my mind on the story all day.
What happened?
I made a DECISION.
I COMMITTED.
You can too.
What do you want to decide and commit to today?
BLOG-DECIDE COMMIT
Love this!!!
Thanks Richard!
A great blog … If I do say so myself.I believe Nike should reconsider.
“Don’t try …. Just do it ” !! 😜
Every night I say I’m going to paint and every night I don’t.its getting the commitments to last.
After reading this I will definitely take a harder look at commitments and the follow through.
I had three other messages in the last hour- people deciding and committing to do something specific. So inspiring. Also this post was first published on a different site. Many commented saying they would take the word ” try” out of their vocabulary. Thanks for your comment!!
Thanks for your motivating and encouraging words Corey, Love your blog!!
Thanks Marsha! Love hearing from you!
So Simple, yet so Epic!
Agreed!
This is an issue of mine as well. I often reply, “I’ll try!” to family members and colleagues when they ask me to do something for them, saving me from the discomfort of saying no and the pressure of needing to follow through when saying yes. This is exactly what I am doing with myself when I say, “I’m going to try to grade all of these papers tonight,” and, “I’m going to try to plan out a month’s worth of lessons at a time.” I get that little pop of pleasure as if I’m actually accomplishing the task when I say it, but I’m careful to keep the pressure at bay. This lack of commitment usually results in flat out “didn’t happens.” So, I’m committing: no more “I’ll tries.”
I know since you posted this you’ve been getting you’re work done in a timely manner, without procrastinating.I can’t tell you how many times I thought about that this week. It’s encouraging. I hope you’re still
focused and committed!
yup I’m planned all the way through May – feels amazing !!!
bloggerific-lady, It sounds like you’ve had Tony Robbins living with you all along. Excellent advice …What an important lesson to teach my kids.Congrats on committing to commit !
Thanks Kim. I like the idea of teaching this to kids. It’s a lesson to learn at any age.
Love this – No more Should-a Could-a Would-as. Nothing like that Tony Robbins High!
Well done!
Thank you for commenting!