“I’ll Try” are potentially words of mediocrity or fear. If the pilot said, “I’m going to try a get us from DFW to Orlando” I’m pretty sure I would drive. Yoda said it best: click on the You Tube Video and you can have fun with the message today!
How many times a day do we hear or say those words, “I’ll try?” It seems like a good thing full of meaningful intention. However, I feel certain that when you think about an employee and their job performance, or a favorite sports team, or even yourself that you would rather your team member, “do” their job or your favorite team to “win” their game.
Yoda said it best. There is “do and not do” but no try. Try sets you up to be off the hook if or when you fail. Failure is a natural part of success. I’d rather go down doing something than to sit on the sidelines trying to do it. I hope that makes sense to you. I hope that every time in the future when the words you start to utter include “I’ll try”…that you will stop and figure out if you can “do or not to” whatever you are “trying” to commit to.
If I have to say, “I’ll try to get back to you by Thursday”, you can just bet money that I probably won’t get that done. I personally have to set an appointment, put it on my calendar, and then I’m set up to succeed. If I “try” to get back to you by Thursday then there is no commitment. OH, I have just had a huge epiphany. I keep “trying” to lose weight. Oh my Lord. (sorry for the digression.).
Let me get back on track and finish the message for today. I challenge you to replace try with do or not do. If you can’t get to something, if you are unsure of your ability, or if you simply do not really want to do what’s in front of you, consider the alternative to trying. Be honest with yourself and others. Let them know that you can’t fit it in or that you don’t believe you have the talent for what’s being ask of you today.
There’s no FEAR here. Let me tell you what will happen. If it’s a talent issue, then those that either believe you can do this thing that in the past you would “try” to do, can give you more training or encouragement and you can move from uncertainty (which I think “try” is shrouded in) to knowing that you can either commit or not to the request.
We work with sales teams every week. And those folks are challenged to reach out to 100 contacts per week. The reality is that when they make that kind of focused attempt they will usually talk to 50 folks. Those 50 go into the sales pipeline and become potential group business.
Any time a sales person says I WILL attempt to talk to 100 clients this week they do that and more. When they say I’ll try, they rarely meet their goals. I should keep it personal and tell you that this happens to me as well. My guess is that the things you “try” to do are also much more difficult than the decisions you make to “do” or “not do” the stuff in your world too.
If you have a good example, I’d love to see it. Share it with me and your fellow readers. OH and don’t “try” to do that, just “do” it!
