Page 48 - Wake Up and do Your Thing

WAKE UP AND DO YOUR THING
3. Stop Trying, Start Doing.
There"s all the difference in the world between trying to do something and actually doing it. When you tell yourself, !I"m going to try to get a date,” or !I"ll try to give up smoking,” what you"re actually saying is, !I"ll give it a shot— but don't count on it." When you say, !I"m going to try to lose twenty pounds,” or !I"ll try to build a bookcase,” what you"re telling yourself is, "Hey, maybe I will, maybe I won't. Whatever." At work, when your boss says, !We"re going to try to beat last year"s numbers,” what she just told you is, "What can I say? Succeed? Fail? Who knows?"
The next time you hear the word !try” coming from your lips, pay attention. Either change it to !do,” or simply drop what you"re trying and move on to something more worthwhile.
Take this test: place a pen in the extended palm of one hand. Now, with your other hand, try to pick it up. If you picked it up, put it back down and try again. I said, !Try to pick it up,” I didn"t say, !Pick it up.” If you actually hovered over the pen with trembling fingers and failed to pick it up, bravo, you already know that when it comes to motivating yourself and others the word "try" actually means !try in vain.”
There is all the difference in the world between, "Try to pick up the pen," and "Pick up the pen." One is an
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