one of my blogs<\/a>, Yoda understand this.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn the Star Wars film, \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back\u201d. Yoda, the small and strange looking Jedi Master is training Luke Skywalker. Yoda sets him numerous challenges and tests to help mould the youth into a Jedi. When Luke is given one particularly challenging task, he responds to Yoda that he will \u2018try\u2019. \u201cNo,\u201d Yoda retorts, \u201cDo, or do not. There is no try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Murray\u2019s team continues to mould him into the best tennis player he can be, they need to address the \u2018try\u2019 \u2013 \u201cDo or do not. There is no try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Incidentally, Murray lost the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You might not be a tennis player, or taking an exam \u2013 but the principle is the same \u2013 so when do you use the word \u2018try\u2019 and what impact can it have for you if you were to drop it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Are these really Andy Murray\u2019s motivational notes? I really do hope they are not \u2013 but there has been no denial and they appear to have been written on the back of a letter to him. Why do I hope they are not? Well, to me they appear toxic. Toxic to a top sports person […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,6,7,13,27,29,30,32],"tags":[105,106,110,107,111,108,109,112],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nAs with all top sports people, I\u2019m sure that Andy and his team pore over huge amounts of performance data to analyse what he is doing, how he is doing it, when he is doing it, etc. So let\u2019s undertake a little analyse of these motivational notes:<\/p>\n\n\n\nThere are 61 words on the page<\/li>These are divided into 10 points<\/li>There are 4 words \u2013 which are either verbs or words with 3 or more letters \u2013 that appear three or more times \u2013 \u2018be\u2019 (4), \u2018your\u2019 (4), \u2018the\u2019 (3) and \u2018try\u2019 (3).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nOf that analysis, the last point is the most striking and concerning for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMurray is going to \u2018try\u2019 to do something.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAnd almost of a third of the 10 points he is going to \u2018try\u2019 to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe word \u2018try\u2019 is one of the most unhelpful \u2013 perhaps even toxic \u2013 words that can be used in relation to performance management and improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow many organisations publish goals that say they are going to \u2018try\u2019 to do something?<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn your personal or professional life, what do you mean when you say you are going to \u2018try\u2019 to do something? Just say it to yourself now \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt usually means one of two things. Firstly, it could mean that you might have a go, but you\u2019re not convinced that you will be able to achieve it \u2013 because of your personal abilities, your belief or your other time constraints. Secondly, it could mean that you have no intention of doing or will to do it, but you add the word \u2018try\u2019 in to avoid the discussion around the fact you will not be doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt isn\u2019t even a word that needs replacing \u2013 it just needs taking out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cTry to be the one dictating\u201d, becomes \u201cBe the one dictating\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cTry to keep him at the baseline make him move\u201d, becomes \u201cKeep him at the baseline make him move\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow different do those sentences sound and feel without the word \u2018try\u2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\nI have worked with a number of people who have struggled to pass exams \u2013 I work with them on their personal approach and exam techniques. I am proud of my success in that every person who I have worked with \u2013 all who have previously failed the nominated exam \u2013 have all passed (or even gained Distinctions) with the work we have undertaken together.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOne of the foundations of this approach is that I will not permit the use of the word \u2018try\u2019. As I have mentioned previously in one of my blogs<\/a>, Yoda understand this.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn the Star Wars film, \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back\u201d. Yoda, the small and strange looking Jedi Master is training Luke Skywalker. Yoda sets him numerous challenges and tests to help mould the youth into a Jedi. When Luke is given one particularly challenging task, he responds to Yoda that he will \u2018try\u2019. \u201cNo,\u201d Yoda retorts, \u201cDo, or do not. There is no try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nAs Murray\u2019s team continues to mould him into the best tennis player he can be, they need to address the \u2018try\u2019 \u2013 \u201cDo or do not. There is no try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIncidentally, Murray lost the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYou might not be a tennis player, or taking an exam \u2013 but the principle is the same \u2013 so when do you use the word \u2018try\u2019 and what impact can it have for you if you were to drop it?<\/p>\n\n\n\nPaul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Are these really Andy Murray\u2019s motivational notes? I really do hope they are not \u2013 but there has been no denial and they appear to have been written on the back of a letter to him. Why do I hope they are not? Well, to me they appear toxic. Toxic to a top sports person […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,6,7,13,27,29,30,32],"tags":[105,106,110,107,111,108,109,112],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20150624233731\/http:\/www.breathe-pod.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/81076321_andy_murray_note_wilfredgenee_twitter2.jpg\"){kind=link}