Yoda was Wrong

As a young person, I had few hard rules.  One maxim however gleaned from the imagination of George Lucas was that "there is no try, there is only do, or do not'.  I felt I actually believed this, as unforgiving as it is.  As time has gone by and I no longer look for philosophies to live by from a galaxy far far away, I've come to understand that often all we have is 'try'.

We after-all are imperfect beings working in systems that are biased, and dealing with economic, political and socials pressures that are at times beyond our direct control.  To succeed at anything is due to a combination of factors, not the least of which is trying, but our level of try is virtually never the only variable.  If I say this another way - my level of trying doesn't on it's own guarantee success, but it does figure into the success equation, in some as yet undermined way.

All of this came to mind recently, as someone in my life has been trying really hard of late, and soon finds out if the efforts taken were successful or not.  There's an implied celebration or consolation coming up.  It struck me though that that's the wrong thing to look for.

What we should be measuring to acknowledge and feel good about is the level of 'try'.  If any of us give something our best, then pass or fail, win or lose we deserve to be recognized and celebrated.  The outcomes themselves are nice, sure but they're the icing on the cake - not the cake itself.  And icing doesn't really happen without the cake, does it ?

When you see someone really put their heart into something, and push themselves to new levels of performance, then the trying itself is worthy of our praise.  The outcomes will come their way - or they won't  - but the supporters need to recognize that the passion, focus and commitment are what we want to see.

So - well done - you couldn't have tried any harder.  I'm proud of you whichever way this ends up.