Don't Say, I'll Try. Say, I'll Do it
August is almost there. And with a blink, the end of the year will be right there in front of us. Today, I would like talk about how people say "I'll Try".
When I was 14 or so, someone told me, "Do Your Best", a few days before a prefectural tournament. I said, "Thank you. I'll try". But my teacher said, "Don't say, "I'll Try". Say, I'll Do it".
Since then, I quit saying "I'll try" especially when learning, telling people that I'll do my best or making promises. And living like that, now when I hear "I'll try", it bothers me.
I know it is just a daily usage and also commonly used. But as a kendo practitioner, I have practiced this ever since. Simply, in training, we should not try to do anything. We should follow and DO what we learned.
To me, trying is a process and it sounds like it also implies...
I will try but there is no guarantee that I can (or will) do it.
It sounds like a very convenient word to me. Of course, there are many people who TRY to accomplish their goals. But if they really want to accomplish, I think they don't say, "I'll try", but "I'll do it" then, they take actions to reach their goals.
It Is More To Ourselves Not To Others
Here is the main reason that I think we should say "I'll do it". It is to ourselves. If it is for us to accomplish, we should declare that we will accomplish rather than leaving some kind of implication of failure.
There is always a possibility that we won't accomplish our goal after doing our best but it is a result. But we should not imply a failure when producing words through our mouth. This reminded me a word...
Kotodama
It is said that our words will gain a power regarding what we say once we produce words through our mouth.
It is called kotodama in Japanese. For example, when you say you are sick even when you are not, you become sick for real. When you say something positive, positive things happen to you.
It is probably the same concept of "affirmation". A definition of an online dictionary, The Free Dictionary, is "Something declared to be true; a positive statement or judgment". By actually producing words and deliver them through your mouth, you are also being convinced by those words you just created. This works in a good way and bad way.
Through kendo, we are training to improve our own abilities; mental and physical. If we really want to make that happen, we should convince ourselves to actually DO things to accomplish our goals.
What do you think?
Hiro Imafuji
