“Do or do not. There is no try.” - Yoda
For new associates at Keller Williams, there is a lot to learn. KW is a company with long-set ideologies, processes, sayings, and more acronyms than you could ever hope to memorize. For me, one of the most difficult of these to remember and employ has been Keller Williams’ (at least the Greater Des Moines Market Center’s) unspoken policy of never using the word “try.” It seems like anytime I use this word, I am quickly corrected. “I’ll try to get that done by 3,” and “I think we should try this new CRM,” no sooner leave my mouth than are cut short by BOTH of my bosses. I swear I could be muttering an “I try” statement to myself in my empty office and a KW agent would pop their head around my door, eye me, and state parentally, “There is no try.” Now this may seem like a stretch to you and if it does, it means you’re not a Keller Williams agent. The KW mindset is sweepingly uplifting and infectious.
At first thought, this saying may seem a little backwards or anti-productive. How do we ever get what we want without trying to attain it? “There is no try,” is a KW BOLD Law, which seems to possibly be fashioned after the adage of Star Wars’ ever-wise Jedi, Yoda. The idea behind this BOLD Law is that the only thing that determines whether you do or don’t do something is commitment and determination.
By using the word “try,” you are acknowledging the possibility of failure, thus making it a legitimate outcome for your situation.
By eliminating the idea of trying and replacing it with the “I will” phrase and mindset, the option of failing is no longer in your mind and therefore no longer a legitimate or expected outcome. “I will,” instead of “I’ll try,” means you will work extra hard to ensure your goal is completed because not doing it is not an option.
Yoda knew that success requires full commitment. If you succeed with the “trying mindset,” it’s really just succeeding out of chance. Always expect 110% from yourself. Expecting 50% will very rarely get you where you want to go.
It’s taken a while to change my mindset and the way I speak, but now I’m the one who stops my friends and coworkers when they use “try” – and someday I may even be that person poking my head around the door of an unsuspecting Executive Assistant to coach them into the “I will” mindset. I’m assuming I’ll never actually turn into a Jedi – but that would be pretty cool too.
Thanks, Yoda, for being BOLD.
"Do or do not. There is no try." - Yoda