Yoda said, “Do or do not; there is no try.”
And he was right.
But… WHY was he right? And more than that: HOW?
He was right because when most folks say they’re trying, they often just mean that they won’t stop thinking about what they should do but haven’t actually made the hard-and-fast decision that they WILL work their plan. Instead of being inconvenienced, they use situations as enablers that defeats their efforts towards their goals, eat what they shouldn’t, do what they shouldn’t, avoid their workouts, and then spend hours or days mentally fussing over it. THIS is what many mean when they say they are “trying.”
If this is you, we are not belittling you in the slightest. Implementing a healthy lifestyle can be HARD, especially in a world that encourages you to indulge yourself and stay sedentary, and we get that. But to be successful, we must admit to where we are, what we are doing on a daily basis, and what we are ACTUALLY doing as we “try” to reach our goals.
And yet! How can Yoda be right if there are distinctly times where we DO try, and yet fail? (Don’t like that word? Learn to love it, because working through failure and correcting mistakes is where success lies… but that’s another topic).
If this is the case, then there may be some part of your plan that needs to change, be it calories consumed, expended, inflammation, chronic ailments, stress, lack of sleep, digestive issues, etc. This is where we need to dig a little deeper and find out what’s going on and why the plan isn’t working as it should. DO NOT DESPAIR. We just need to rework your plan. That is all.
BUT! Please HEAR me: most people are not as compliant as they believe themselves to be.
ARE you being as compliant as you think (or as you hope or wish you would be)? No? Then it’s time to do as Yoda said: DO. There is no try, excuses and reasons aside (because we all have them, even us trainers; it is up to you not to let them derail your efforts).
If you ARE actually trying, but nothing’s happening, then let’s chat. Sometimes “unrelated,” underlying circumstances trip us up.
As for the trying-but-not-trying. Imagine the mental peace you’ll have by just doing what you said you wanted to do. Does the plan suck sometimes? Yes, but it certainly beats berating ourselves by thinking about it ALL. DAY. LONG. Man, that’s exhausting. Life already demands a lot from us – don’t add to it!
You CAN do. You just have to implement your plan, or rework it. Success comes from being willing to try, to fail, and doing it again. By repetitive failures and mistakes, and learning from them, success becomes imminent.Go on, young Padawan, and do.