Try to Lift That Pencil

So this is was Kurt & my argument for years - TRY! To me it's a dirty word. Should be stricken from the English language. Or at least taught to children in school what it actually means. To me, try means to put forth effort to do something without a clearly defined goal. To Kurt, it used to mean (maybe still does) to put forth effort to do something with the goal of successful accomplishment.

So "TRY" to lift that pencil. Most people LIFT the pencil - no, that's lifting - I said "TRY". To "TRY" to do something is not accomplishing it, it's merely trying. And when we get in the mode of "trying" it somehow clicks in our head that we don't have to accomplish the goal because "at least we tried". But the truth is, most things that we "try" to get done, could get done if we PLANNED!!! Now to Kurt, the word "planned" use to be an ugly word - I think with 3 kids, he has resigned to the fact that it's necessary now to plan.

So here's how a typical pattern works - "I'm trying to lose weight", I say as I'm eating a frosty. "I tried to finish the laundry", I say as I'm watching TV. "I tried to make it in service", but I didn't set my alarm & figured I would miraculously wake up on time. "I tried to get my work done" but I didn't go to bed at a decent hour & ate food that made me feel horrible the next day. The technical answer is, YES, try would be the right word, but not as I am using it. I did try without any plan for success. But when most of us use the word "TRY" as above, we think it means we should get credit for "trying".

So what do you think??