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
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