Weekly Newsletter:

February 11, 2026

The Difference Between Trying and Doing

INDEED THERE IS!

Let’s take some time to unravel the confusion and entanglement of the concepts of trying and doing. It seems there are numerous applications and definitions regarding the word try. We can “try” a new recipe, have our patience “tried,” and “try” a case in court. The word do is a bit less complicated; do is a matter of commitment and accomplishment. Try, on the other hand, poses a kind of fingers-crossed approach to goals and intentions. A kind of “get out of jail” ticket if all falls short.

There is considerable error in confusing the two. They are not interchangeable, and it is important to mindfully identify the difference, for that is how we more effectively approach issues and goals. The famed doctor Patch Adams, whom Robin Williams portrayed in the film of the same name, offered a concise distinction between these two concepts. “When rising in the morning, do you try to put on your pants, or do you just put your pants on and be on your way?” So it is. You either do, or you don’t. Try has no place in the equation.

Yet, all too often, the distinction becomes fuzzy and interchangeable. Trying and doing are two different things; when you try, you hope. When you do, you succeed. The difference between the two is that one leads to accomplishment, and the other leads to excuses.

When I was around five, bored and in need of “busy work,” I decided to dig a hole to China in our driveway. Armed with my mother’s best tablespoon, I set out on my fantastical project. What an undertaking! The dirt was hard and unforgiving, yet I was undaunted in my mission. With my focus ever on the small pile of dirt to my left, I continued until nap time. After what seemed like forever, about 10 minutes, I took stock of the lack of progress in my hopeful endeavor. In the depth of painful disappointment, faced with the futility and impossibilities of my intentions, I gave up the spoon and went on to smaller endeavors. Yet I find I can easily re-experience that painful sting some 79 years later. It was “try” on steroids. My takeaway? I learned that intentions and goals must be grounded in possibility. Doing versus trying proceeds from there.

“Trying is about intention. Intentions live in the mind. Doing is about action… decide, then do. Everyone can help change.”

— Suzanne Wagner

There’s an instructive scene in the Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back. Yoda is reminding Luke Skywalker again of how to use the Force. He asks Luke to retrieve his disabled spaceship out of a bog using only his mind. Luke thinks it impossible. Luke has had success moving stones using this method—but a spaceship? Yoda reminds him that the task is only different in his mind. Luke reluctantly agrees to “give it a try.” Yoda famously replies, “No! Try not! Do. Or do not!” And so it was!

Why trying does not work: At one of his personal growth seminars, Tony Robbins gave similar advice to a woman who was struggling in her marriage. She complained that she had “tried everything,” yet nothing had changed. Tony instructed her to try to pick up her chair. She turned around and picked up the chair. "No. Try to pick it up." Again, as instructed, she again picked up the chair. "No, you're picking it up; I asked you to try to pick it up. You either pick it up, don't pick it up, or you 'try' to pick it up."

The point of that is 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. You either do something or you don't do something. Trying is really the same as not doing it. It just makes it easier for us to let ourselves off the hook.

Trying is setting you up for failure. When you say, "Look at him, he's trying to swim," that means he can't really do it. You don't point to Michael Phelps and say, "He's trying to swim." He's swimming! It's subtle, but "trying" implicitly means that it's not going to work out. But there are certainly times when you don't know whether you are going to fail or succeed, so you "try," and that would make the failure "not count." Trying several things at once can serve to give yourself an out if they all fail... "Well, at least I tried."

THREE SUGGESTIONS:

1. Eliminate the word "try" from your vocabulary.

Language is subtle. The words we use can program us to perform certain ways. Using the wrong language can create an outcome we don't intend. "TRY" is a worthless word that accomplishes nothing. It might make us feel better when we fail, but it actually induces the kind of behavior that leads to failure. When we get comfortable with trying, even a bit, we open the possibility of failure because we make it respectable to walk off the field before the whistle blows. Don't give yourself an out.

2. Decide either to do or not to 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 completely different postures.

3. Commit 100% to the outcome you want.

As the project manager for Apollo 13 said, "Failure is not an option." Play full out. Don't quit. 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.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.