One day my father and I were on our way to a soccer game I was about to play. I was a young boy at the time and my dad turned to me and said “With your shield or on it.” I looked at him with a puzzled face and asked what that meant.
He told me the ancient Greeks used to say that before a battle. Upon a little more research I found that Greek mothers used to say this to their sons before battle. The mothers actually were proud and happy when the soldiers came back from war and their sons were not amongst them. They were actually disappointed when they laid eyes on their children who had survived. It was viewed as a sign that their sons didn’t fight bravely. In essence, the mothers would rather have their sons die than believe they hadn’t given it their all.
With Your Shield Or On It
As I grew older I started to think more and more about the significance of the word try and how useless it truly is.
I want my children to know that they can do anything in this world iff they remove the word “Try” from their vocabulary. The word “try” is defined as: to make an attempt or effort to do something.
Come Back With Your Shield – Or On It
Ancient greek Spartans
Think of the word “try” and use it in a sentence and I will be able to replace that word 100% of the time with the actual action it was originally intended for. Here are some examples of what I mean:
“I am going to TRY my best.” Replace it with “I am going to DO my best.”
“I tried to get an A on the test.” Replace it with “I got a B. Next time I will study more and get some help.”
“I want to try that new restaurant.” Replace it with “I am going to that restaurant.”
“I want to try to play the piano.” Replace is with “I am going to learn how to play the piano.”
“I am going to try to make the varsity team.” Replace it with “I’m going to DO my best to make the varsity team.”
“I’m trying to fix my bike.” Replace it with “I’m fixing my bike.” Or “I’m working on fixing my bike.”
Changing this word gives you a sense of ownership and control. It gives you accountability for your actions. Everything that happens in your life, both good and bad, can be traced to your actions. I want you both to own it, to know that you have control to achieve whatever outcome you desire. Sometimes you will fall short and that’s ok.. so long as you DID everything you could and exhausted all options.
Do Or Do Not. There Is No Try
I am not a Star Wars guy but the quote that Yoda says about trying is spot on – “Do or do not, there is no try.” The word try could easily be erased from the English language.
Anything in life that’s worth anything takes effort… and a considerable amount of it. To achieve whatever it is in live that you want to achieve, you will need to stop TRYING and start DOING. You will need to have the mindset of the Spartans and either go all in or move on to something else. I am not saying that everything you do needs to be with this type of energy, but if it’s something you really want, there is no other way.
Somebody once told me the definition of Hell: “On our last day on Earth, the person you become will meet the person you could have become.” – Anonymous
God made both of you special, with all the tools to achieve greatness. You don’t want to find yourself in Hell one day. No regrets.
– Dad
