The Power of Trying

We introduced Sharing Circle in March 2020. The thought behind building something like a Sharing Circle was to provide a more structured, uninterrupted, and supportive environment for everyone to share their feelings and experiences.

But the Sharing Circle wasn’t the outcome of overnight efforts. It was a result of something that the community and teams were thinking and trying to create like that for countless months. All we're trying and giving our best efforts every day. I remember the day when our Academy Dean - Hope drafted the Sharing Circle Script and we went through many edits before the final piece was ready to use for the first Sharing Circle Session. It was the outcome of constant attempts.

Similarly, the same applies to our lives. Life happens every day. Probably some of you may have experienced the worst day at work, some of you experienced anxiety, some going through depression episodes, some facing the impact of traumatic experiences, and some had a breakup and a gazillion other events that made you feel like, “That’s it”. For everyone, even though it looks like different events took place, it is a rough time for one. And yes that’s it! We need to activate the power of trying.

Now many of us think about what is trying and why should we even try if nothing happened in all these years, what is the point of trying now? But there is a point. The point is to improve, to change for the better, to have a less complicated life.

I see trying as something like a seed. If you sow a coriander seed, it is not going to give you potato or coffee. Even though I like coffee and I wish coriander seed could give it. But no. You reap what you sow. Period.

Hereby seed means defining what you need to work on. Your goals. Defining them as clearly as possible. Because when you know what you need to work on, you put your efforts in the right direction. But if it is not clear then even if you put in the effort, it won’t get you anywhere as you may be unaware of your efforts are in the opposite or right direction. This is why it is important to define the seed you are sowing.

When you sow this seed, you take your first step towards creating something new. And after that, all the efforts you make every day will help your plant to grow. And the final plant that we see is the compound effect of the attempts you made every single day. That’s the power of trying!! When things go south, you do not stop. You make another improved try. Because you are determined to create something better.

The goal of this post is to remind all of us that if things went south today, it is okay and you are not alone. Let’s try again tomorrow!! And keep trying with the consideration that the growth timeline of your plant is different than mine or anyone else, and so the amount of trying too.

I know I probably do not know you. I do not know what you are going through and can’t even imagine how you are holding up right now. I do not know what pain you are in and how much you are hurting. But, if it eases your pain a bit, please know you are not alone who are having a hard time right now. We all are having our experiences. Maybe not similar but we all do. But I know that I believe in you and me that we can get through whatever obstacle or challenge we are having right now.

Success stories and media often paint a picture of instant success. We know this isn’t true or realistic. People are successful because they work for it. Thomas Edison said, “the more hard work I put in, the luckier I get” (paraphrased). Trying is absolutely critical to any sort of healing, growth, or success. Trying - really trying - is what enables you to make real progress.

Also, sometimes at school, you can see kids picked on for being earnest or trying. They don’t look as “cool” as some of the other kids. Well, I think trying is cool and transparent trying is even cooler. It is how we become stronger.

All you need is to unlock the power of trying. And for that, you need to start trying. We are trying. The Community is trying. Leaders and listeners are trying. Members are trying. I am trying. Every single person across teams is trying, and through our collective efforts, it creates a chain reaction. We try, we fail, we learn, and then gradually we succeed in trying to achieve better results than before, focused to create a better version of whatever we are working on right now or the next item and so on. If you are trying, you’re always winning, and that’s the power of never giving up.

And here I leave all of us with this question to ponder upon!

Can you think of a time you tried really hard? How did that impact your results?