Don't "try" your hardest - do or do not...there is no try

"Do or do not there is no try"
Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back

And isn't that the truth. Have you noticed that when you use the words "I'll try" you are actually giving yourself permission to fail.
 
"Well I tried my hardest!"
 
Did you, did you really? 

Einstein said it best when he said "I have not failed 10,000 times, I have found 10,000 ways that will not work." He didn't see failure as failure, he just saw it as a reason to try something a little different next time around. 

Are you doing exactly the same things and getting exactly the same kind of results? I know I did, and because I said that I was "trying to lose weight" my non-conscious mind took that to mean that it was OK if it didn't work out - it didn't matter enough to me to do something different in order to reach the goal, and that is the same for any goal - not just losing weight.
 
I used to think that reading was actually doing. I was feeding my mind with the theory but failing to act on the knowledge I had gained. I didn't do the suggested exercises, or if I did, I half did them. I didn't take the time to do, re-do and practice the new techniques. I would tell myself that I would go back to the exercises at a later time and do them. Except I didn't. I would conveniently forget that I had promised myself that I would go back and look at the exercises and do them. I would find another book and another book. Kidding myself that I was working on my personal development, when in reality I was just adding to the vast storehouse of knowledge that I had captured in my own personal computer.
 
Are you like I was? Are you a reader rather than a do'er? To use a very bad exercise analogy - it is very hard to think yourself thin. You still have to go to the gym and do the prescribed number of repetitions for quite a long time in order to gain some long-term benefit.
 
And so it is with everything...
 
Do or do not - trying is half-hearted, so stop kidding yourself and get on with it...or not as the case may be. The choice as they say is entirely up to you.
 
I go to the gym 4 times a week - rain, shine or whether I want to or not. I know the short term pain is definitely paying off. My clothes feel better, I can get into things I couldn't 6 months ago. I may weigh almost the same on the scale as I did back then, but it doesn't matter - I look like I weigh about 15 kilos lighter than I did and that is more important to me than numbers on a scale.
 
What short term steps are you taking to reach your long term goals?