Picture the iconic in the Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back when Yoda asks Luke to harness the power of his mind to retrieve his sunken and disabled spaceship form a bog.

Luke thinks this is impossible. Sure, he’s moved stones around this way – but a spaceship is completely different. Or is it?

When Yoda explains that it’s only different in his mind Luke reluctantly agrees to ‘give it a try’ – to which Yoda famously says, “NO TRY NOT.  DO. OR DO NOT. THERE IS NO TRY. “

I’ve taken the above from a very powerful blog by author Michael Hyatt who writes on leadership As a business strategist, coach and forum leader who enables business owners and leaders to get out from under their businesses and enjoy lives worth living, I shared this with my members and thought it would inspire you.

Here’s Michael’s take on ‘trying versus doing’:

Recently, I watched Tony Robbins [Warning: rough language] give similar advice to a woman who was struggling in her marriage. She stood up in one of his seminars to ask a question. She complained that she had “tried everything” to improve her relationship with her husband but nothing had changed.

Tony went on to make a distinction that I think is vitally important. He asked the woman to try to pick up the chair she was sitting in. She turned around and picked up the chair.

Tony said, “No, you picked it up. I said try to pick it up.”

The woman looked confused. Tony reiterated, “Try to pick it up.” The woman just stood there, not knowing what to do.

Tony continued, “No, now you’re not picking it up. I said try to pick it up.” Again, she picked up the chair.

Again, Tony, said, “No, you picked up the chair. I asked you to try and pick it up. You either pick it up, you don’t pick it up, or you try to pick it up.”

The point is that when we say we are trying we don’t really have to do anything. It also provides us with an excuse for why we didn’t accomplish the outcome we say we want.

Do you understand the difference? You either do something or you don’t do it. Trying is really the same as not doing it. It just makes it easier for us to let ourselves off the hook when we fail.

Where are you trying to improve?

• Are you trying to get in shape or are you getting in shape.
• Are you trying to improve your marriage or are improving your marriage.
• Are you trying to make more sales calls or are you making more sales calls.

This may sound like a small distinction, but, stresses Michael, it has huge ramifications.

Maybe it’s time to quit trying and just do it. Here are three suggestions:

1. Eliminate the word “try” from your vocabulary. It is a worthless word that accomplishes nothing. It only makes you feel better when you fail.
2. Decide either to do or not do. If you don’t want to do something fine. Don’t do it. But don’t pretend that trying is the same as doing. They are two completely different postures.
3. Commit 100 percent to the outcome you want. Like the project manager in Apollo 13 said, “Failure is not an option.” Play full out. Go for the win. Don’t settle for merely trying.

As Yoda suggested to Luke, the difference may only be in your mind, but it has a dramatic impact on the outcome of whatever you set out to do.

What dramatic results have you discovered by trying instead of doing?