Whatever you or I are engaged in ‘doing’ there are really only two options. As Yoda said in Star Wars episode V, “Do, or Do Not” and of course he then went on to say, “There is no Try”.

“I’ll try”, “I’ll do my best”, “I’ll see what I can do”.

A lot of people use these phrases when being asked to do something and you and I have a pretty good idea, they’re not going to do anything about the topic in question.

What does try really mean?

Unless we’re talking about a rugby football match, it’s quite clear.

UK dictionaries define ‘to try’ as follows: Cambridge Essential British gives two core meanings: “to attempt to do something” and “to do, test, taste, etc. something to discover if it works or if you like it.” Oxford also defines it as making “an attempt or effort” and as “using, doing, or testing something to see whether it is suitable”.

But as you and I know, this isn’t what people really mean when they say “I’ll try”

‘A try’ outside the realm of rugby is defined by  Oxford as “an act of trying something new or different to see if it is good, suitable, etc.” and Cambridge Learner’s gives it as “an attempt to do something.”

In my experience and opinion, the only valid use of try is as an experiment as defined in both dictionaries.

You could say, legitimately, Edison ‘tried’ many thousands of times to make a light bulb which worked, which equates try to attempt, which is the word I use when I ‘try’ to do something.

But going back to the statement from Yoda, when Luke’s ship had sunk in the swamp. Luke’s response, “I’ll try”, referred to his belief he could not lift the ship out of the swamp by the power of the mind, which Yoda then demonstrated as entirely possible.

Still, “I’ll try” is used as a get-out, as are the similar phrases which really mean someone has no real intention of ‘doing’ anything.

You see, the dictionary definitions of an attempt and so on still mean something has to be ‘done’. To ‘try’ in the correct sense you and I must ‘do’.

Continuing the Star Wars theme, there are a myriad of things we, as spiritual/human beings, can do, but have forgotten, or never learned how. Luke no longer knew how he could achieve the task until Yoda taught him.

It is said we only use 10% of our brain power, this isn’t true. We use all of it.

But, like an iceberg, we aren’t really aware of the 90% of our mind, our unconscious or subconscious mind, our operating system, which is under the water.

But that’s really another story I’ll look at another time.

What’s the point of all this?

The real point is you and I have to decide, to decide whether are not we are going to ‘do’ whatever it might be, and more to this point we have to decide ‘when’, if we do decide to go ahead with it, we will start and by when we expect to finish.

Like Edison we don’t need a timeframe; the job is done when it’s done which leads to the next decision. Are we really going to do this? Are we really determined to complete it – to finish the job?

If the timescale ‘matters’ then it’s likely it’s being decided by external forces. Planting crops for example has to be done before the end of the ‘planting season’ and we could apply the same thinking to other activities.

‘Trying’ is ‘doing’, making as many attempts to finish the job as we can, getting help if necessary, learning what we need to do along the way, and so on.

There is no ‘try’ – only ‘do’.