Do or Do Not, It's Really That Simple

I love quoting tiny green men with pointy ears don't you?

"Do or do not. There is no 'try,'" -Yoda

I got a new phone this week, a fancy touch screen 4G one (I don't know what 4G means but I hear it's all the rage) and it is quite hard to get the letters right when you type and it always autocorrects which is a good thing and a bad thing because lots of times it gets my mistakes right but on the other hand sometimes it makes me Tweet or Facebook or text the totally wrong thing, I mean wayyy off.

But it's so much better than my Blackberry with the roller ball that always got stuck and the internet that was mostly nonexistent.

Anyway, none of this is the point, the point is my new fabulous phone (with a pink case) has an app for ringers and wallpapers. And wallpapers with quotes.

And so I made my wallpaper Yoda, with his quote.

It moved me when I needed to be moved, quite literally in fact, I needed some motivation and I needed to light a fire under me.

The part I keep saying in my head, over and over, the part that moves me most, is Do or do not.

Do.

Or do not.

There is a similar saying that ends with something like, "or get off the pot."

You may know that one too.

I think the Yoda one is a little more eloquent. But either way, there is no middle ground in this particular quote and that is why I like it. It's like Mr. Miyagi when he said, "You walk right side, yes. You walk left side, yes. You walk middle (squish), get squish like grape." Or something like that.

It's either do or do not. And it really is that plain and simple.

It's amazing how saying, "I do," in my mind makes me actually do. And actually makes "do not" not even an option. I can't actually bring myself to say, "I do not." And that's the magical part.

Doing also makes things like "fear" not even an option. Because it's either do or do not. There's  no room for something like fear because it makes no sense if you're going to do it. You just have to do it.

You either try and give it your all or you do not.

In training for this triathlon in May and the subsequent ones this season, there are specific goals that must be met. Calorie counting and healthy food eating (the hardest part for me), actual training (second hardest what with the motivation and all), and working hard with purpose during the actual training (third hardest because I am still putting my plan together and also this is where things like "believing in myself" get in the way).

But each one of these things is part of the puzzle that is the bigger picture of training as a whole. Not doing one or any of these things just simply means, I do not.

But I do.

And thinking "I do" helps me wipe my mind blank and answer myself with a simple answer which in turn makes me happily lace up, put down the Girl Scout cookie or swim my little heart out.

Ya know what I mean?

There is no "try" about it, it's either do, or get off the pot.



What's your mantra this week??