Words matter! There is not a statement more true, that so many seem to forget so often. There are many words and phrases we should use more often in our lives. Words and phrases that improve our lives and the lives of others around us like – Love, Hope, Thank you, etc. However, there is one word that surprisingly we should completely remove from our vocabulary. I see it as the most dangerous word we have in our daily vocabulary. What is it? TRY… Yep, that little 3 letter word that denotes that we might or might not do whatever, we might give 100%—80%—47%—9% of effort or maybe none at all. This is one of my favorite quotes of all time. I’m sure you’ll recognize it… “Do or do not. There is no try.”  …YodaThat pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Thanks for reading this A Common Man’s Wisdom. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. It dawned on me one day, how many times I said or would think the word “try”. “I’ll try to be there. Try and get that thing done. I’m trying, I’m trying…” and so on and so on and on and on. Look, nobody wants to try. We want to DO, just as Yoda said. So for me, the best way to DO that, was to make a conscious decision to replace the word “try” in my life.(NOTE:To do this or to make any change in your life, you’re going to have to make a conscious decision to commit to it! It’s so hard to do. It’s also so worthwhile when it happens.)  ===================================== Step 1 We must consciously decide to remove the word try from our daily lexicon and stop using it in our conversations.  Step 2 Figure out its replacement.  ====================================== Believe it or not, one phrase jumped into my head almost immediately. More importantly, it jumped into my heart, seemingly from my soul and I’ve used it ever since. Instead of saying “I’m going to try” I began using… “I’m going to do my best” It sounds like a very simplistic change doesn’t it? Well, it is. But simple doesn’t mean it can’t also make a massive positive impact on your life. Think of it this way, you ask someone to come over to your house and if they say “I’ll try,” that tells you they might or might not be there or for that matter and they might or might not care about coming over. But, if they say “I’ll do my best” that gives the impression they’re making a real effort to be there and they do care. Even when you’re talking to yourself, the phrase, “I’ll do my best” or “I’m doing my best” is a real motivator because of the positive words you’re using in that conversation. As you might have seen in this week’s Weekly Affirmation, every morning I write the following phrase on a piece of paper, “Today, I will do my best, to do my best.” Has doing that made any difference in […]

The last couple of weeks have been filled with so many events and happenings that are life altering. From another tragic school shooting to a power shifting election, a criminal indictment of the once most powerful man in the world, rockets shot into Israel and their promise of retaliation, Evan Gershkovich being kidnapped and held hostage by Russia and devastating and dangerous weather here in the US, (just one of these) can be cause stress, worry and heartache in your life. So I thought this might be a good time to remind ourselves of two things. •Be aware of what’s going on but only be concerned about what we can control. •Even our biggest challenges are only IN our lives, they are NOT our lives. I remember as a young man my dad told me “If you want to control what’s happening in the world, first you have to control what’s happening in YOUR world.” So for instance, if you want more kindness in the world, be more kind in the smaller world around you. Be more kind to the world within you! Bad things will happen both in the world and to us. The path we’ve laid out will sometimes be blocked. Our mood will sometimes not be what we hope for and the same will go for our outlook. We have experience with this kind of things. These are all things that have also happened to us in the past. The bottom line though is that we made it through those challenges in the past and that’s what has gotten us to here! Find a way to remind yourself of and to be proud of your resilience and gumption. (A word I did not envision using when I woke up today. If you’re under 45 you might need to look it up.) Take a breath. Enjoy the things around you that most people won’t. Make a plan to make things better. Smile. Allow yourself to be the person that you were made to be. People like you make this world better. Keep that in mind as you keep taking care of yourself. Keep searching for the important things in life, then share them so others can find them too. Peace       …..Gregg