People talk about the “Race Card” the “Wealth Card” and other various monikers of division. Adding to the list, I now present to you the “Try Card.” They just go through life leveraging the word “try.” Try a new food, try a new procedure, try to improve on something. I am not downing the try, but I do want to stress how weak this may be perceived. Here is an excellent example of the classic try response. “But I tried, what more do you want?” What if someone does not use try as a fallback position but the frist step of a process. “ I may never have attempted this before, but I would like to learn how, even if I do not do it right the first time.” Any person willing to look at it like this has a strong will to improve. If they go for it and it does not work out, of course, they can default to the “well, I tried.” However, in the affirmative style statement they are committed to learning about what they did or did not do and improve upon it. It shows they want to explore and look at new things, even if they may totally suck at it the first time. How many people do you know who are not willing to even try at all? There could be many factors and reasons to not try. However, the one word you would never use to describe them is “entrepreneur”.
I remember wanting to play the guitar and finally sitting down with a guitar. Wow, big difference in playing the air guitar (which I did perfectly by the way) and trying to make real sounds with the actual instrument. For any musician, I do not think they use the word “try”. I hear some of the most positive, forwarding thinking, statements from someone learning to play an instrument. “Let me keep working on that.” “I just have to practice more.” “Oh cool, show me how to play that.” Do you see how important this is? The musician never talks about having to “TRY to learn a song”, they say they have to PRACTICE a new song. Even if they do not know it, they are making a total commitment, a full investment into what they are doing. The next time you are asked about doing or starting something, and you are tempted to say “I will try,” take a pause and see if you can step it up in how you respond. Character is based upon actions, if you are always trying, some people may see it as a lack of doing.
