Today I was reminded of the difference between try and will. It reminded me of the Yoda meme “Try or Try not, only do.” It’s the same thing.

When we use the try language we are giving ourselves permission to fail. We may tell ourselves that we will try to complete something by a certain date. If this was reframed as we will complete something by Monday it creates a completely different mindset and action.

In education we encourage students to try their best. Now, I’m rethinking this language. If this is reframed as “Do you best” it implies greater action toward the goal. It helps avoid the fallback of “Well, I tried” and instead focuses on “I DID or DID NOT do my best.” The latter phrases places emphasis on the actions or inactions taken toward the goal.

It is possible that I am overthinking this distinction. But, I am going to try to make this language shift for myself and within the classroom and see what happens.