Yoda was wrong: Trying matters

“Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda

“Just do it.” – Nike

These two quotes reveal a simple truth: We live in a society that celebrates achievement, not effort. That’s a change from the way things were not so long ago, and it isn’t for the best.

Once upon a time, effort was what mattered. We taught our kids to “give it their all,” and if they came up short, they’d learn to do better the next time. But somewhere along the line, our values changed. Maybe it started with Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, whose teams won two Super Bowls.

“Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing,” he was quoted as saying.

Actually, he wasn’t the first person to say that, and he later insisted that he was talking about “the will to win” or “making an effort.” If so, he was in line with our old-school American values, which taught Little Leaguers to be good sports rather than encouraging them to argue with umpires and trash talk their opponents.

(Trash talk is further evidence of our shift in values. It’s almost required on the NBA court these days, and the message is clear: “You’re not good enough. You ain’t worth shit. I’m better than you.” Leave aside the obvious implication of that being better than someone who ain’t worth shit really isn’t worth bragging about.)

As for Lombardi, he may not have meant what he was quoted as saying, but it didn’t matter. The saying caught on, and it became the slogan for a new generation: one that no longer valued effort, but achievement. Another famous football coach (whose Oakland Raiders, ironically, lost to Lombardi’s Packers in Super Bowl II) took it even further when he uttered the catchphrase “Just win, baby.”

No middle ground

Al Davis’ teams didn’t always win, but the mentality stuck. There was no longer, in Yoda’s words, any “try.” Trying was for people who were willing to settle for something less than their best; for people who didn’t give it their all. Their failure was seen as proof they hadn’t given 100 percent: judgment case in retrospect. Such people were not just doomed to failure, but were failures themselves – losers by definition.

This mentality reached its apex (so far) in the person of Donald Trump, who made it his mantra. Winning was something to be achieved at all costs. Effort? It was irrelevant. If effort helped you win, that was fine, but if exploiting others or cheating did the trick, that was the way to go. Trump outright called those who disagreed with him “losers.”

Discounting effort and exalting naked success created two false assumptions.

• First, anyone who tried and failed must not have tried hard enough.

• Second, we live in a black-and-white world of success and failure; there is no in between.

And we wonder why our society has become so polarized.

It would have been bad enough if actions alone were defined as black and white. What’s worse is we’ve let ourselves define people that way, too. We’re eager to label them as villains or victims, winners or losers, successes or failures. Such narrow definitions allow us to rationalize “canceling” people we don’t like, dismissing them as good-for-nothings who failed to live up to our standards. Losers, in other words.

The phrases “valiant effort” and “your best shot” and “the old college try” are seldom heard these days. When they are uttered, they’re not compliments but insults. Excuses for failure.

Lazy generation

Labeling people as simply winners and losers, without taking into account the effort they might have put forth, requires no effort.

In a word, it’s lazy.

It’s no wonder that the scientific method has acquired a bad reputation among the lazy set these days. Failure is an essential part of the scientific process. Failed hypotheses help scientists move closer to success, and control groups – which are actually designed to fail – help them define it. Yet scientists are ridiculed for getting things wrong on the first try (there’s that word again) and changing their conclusions as new evidence emerges… even though this is exactly how the process is supposed to work.

Why put in the effort and risk failure? It's far easier to put unwavering faith in unproven results, or to hope and pray for magical solutions that don’t require any work. Hey, if God doesn’t answer a prayer, just chalk it up to the divine will and avoid taking any responsibility yourself. Here’s another 20th century saying that’s fallen out of favor: “God helps those who help themselves” – the people who put in the effort.

These days, the Almighty is expected to do all the work. All we have to do is cancel people the minute we decide they don’t cut the mustard. Sometimes, they can’t cut the mustard with some people because they’re the “wrong” race or gender or sexual orientation.

Effort really doesn’t matter to these bigots.

Besides, even those who put in the effort sometimes fail, either because of circumstances beyond their control or because they lack the skills and/or resources to succeed. It would make sense to encourage these people and equip them with the tools they need to improve. It would seem human to offer them compassion and understanding.

Judge not?

We don’t do that, though. Instead, we dismiss them as “losers” and blame them for failures they couldn’t have prevented. We could try helping them, but we’re far too lazy for that. It’s much easier to ride the coattails of someone else’s success – earned or not – projecting our hopes and wishes onto them rather than putting in what it takes to truly succeed: effort.

It doesn’t work every time. Effort doesn’t always lead to success. But trying and failing doesn’t make you a loser. There’s never any shame in that. The shame belongs to those who enjoy success they haven’t earned – and condemn those who put in the effort.

At least, that’s how we used to think. Not so much anymore.

But the fact remains Yoda was wrong when he said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” That may work in a fictional world infused with the Force, but here on plain old Planet Earth, the truth is just the opposite:

There is no do without try.

 Stephen H. Provost is the author of more than 40 books, all of which are available on Amazon.