Thursday, June 11, 2015

To try is not to do.

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Now I’m not one to shy away from commitment. After all, I have several tattoos, have been in long-term relationships and am about to be married (yay! eating cake and dancing all night!). I’ve committed to wearing the same studs for what seems like forever, and I practice the five Tibetan rites every weekday morning…When I was in my teens, I used to give myself these weird month-long commitment challenges, “No chocolate for a month!” or “No beer for a month!” A commitment-phobe? Ah don’t think so!

So why am I bragging about how awesome I am at committing to things? And what in the world does commitment have to do with the title of this post?  Well, let me tell you. You need to commit to DO, and you need nothing to TRY.

And, although I see myself as a committed person, I too, catch myself ‘trying’….

Trying to get the underwear/pencil/flip-flop out of the puppy’s excitable jaws; trying to understand an important website; trying to tidy up my desk; trying to express my feelings. When I think or say try, I end up not achieving much. No- that’s not true- I become impatient and demotivated. Awesome.

Tim watches me ‘trying’ to playfully retrieve the pencil I was writing with from Portion’s mouth, and says, “ B! You gotta commit to catching her! 100%!” And, with those smiling words hanging in the air, he pounced off the couch, lunged at the dog and reclaimed the pencil (Tim played (almost) pro rugby so really, he was reliving his youth and showing off small).

Truth is, when I decide to stop procrastinating (way more fun to pretend to get my pencil back from the pup-pup then lesson plan); when I walk away from the tormented computer and take a break from attempting to fill out an online form; when I consciously put the objects back in their designated place (or as my mum says ‘where they live’) or when I organize my thoughts into logical sentences that contain pretty and precise words, I get shit done.

The idea to blog about trying v doing happened when chatting with Tim’s best friend, who told me about his former business partner that said, when a deal fell through, “ …Well buddy (insert sigh here), we tried.” and how, he explained, implicit in that word 'try' is a lack of commitment.

With this news my brain exploded- DUH! When you lack commitment, you’re low on passion, dry of drive and ultimately, fall short on the road leading to success, personal and otherwise. The word ‘try’ prompts laziness: a half-baked attempt at the world, a lukewarm sentiment for change.  

The dots connected, the pattern strikingly clear- “OH MY GOD I KNOOOOOW!”  I almost shouted back at Tim’s friend, “My students say ‘Oh, I’ll give it a try, or- my favorite ‘Well, I tried! But Miss B, I tried my best!’ And I always, and I mean always retort with: Don’t try your best. DO your best.”

Don’t try to memorize your timetables. Just memorize your timetables!
Don’t try to put your stuff in order. Just put your stuff in order!
Don’t try to not push and shove when lining up. Seriously that’s wicked annoying; just keep your hands and feet to yourselves, geez!

So- with that, I’m going to extract the verb TRY from my vocabulary. Let’s be honest: trying is worthless and accomplishes nothing. It only makes you feel better when you fail.  Well then, I’m going to stare failure straight in the kisser and Dare to Do.

P.S. Tim last night started a sentence with " oh yeah and then I'll try to do it- no, no I mean I'll do it-...."  Love this, and love him. Stop yourself from using the word and you'll see how empowered you are.  
Ciao for now xox