As much as you can love quotes from fictional Jedi masters Yoda’s famous quote is beloved in the startup world and something I’ve always taken to heart:
“Do. Or don’t Do. There is no Try”
Master Yoda the The Empire Strikes Back.
It speaks to the idea of being decisive and relentless: if you start something, finish and keep going until you have. So the quote feels intuitively valuable on a lot of levels.
Trust Seth Godin in his book “Poke the Box” then, for tipping the apple cart the other way with an insight. Godin points out that, at another level, this quote is fundamentally the wrong way to look at things. Wrong because it discourages action.
In other words, often what is missing is the spark to start something, to try and see what happens. Sometimes we’ll fail in that endeavor. Failing many times and learning, adapting, exploring though are what lead to success in the long run.
So, yes, there is “try” and there is even “fail”.
Still, when you find something that is really worth doing and you see the possibility of success then that’s probably the right time to call upon your inner Yoda and be relentless!
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
