4 letter words. You know, the ones we’re not supposed to say in public because they are offensive. You know the ones I’m talking about. They start with the letter “S” or “D” for “F.” We are advised against saying them because they are words that have no real business being in our public vocabulary. In fact a comedian once had a skit of cool 4 letter words you couldn’t say on TV. Let me introduce you to another 4 letter word you should not use.

Try.

I know, I know, that’s only 3 letters, but it is as damaging as the 4 letter words.

Try is the word you use when you are blowing someone off. “I’ll try to get you the information tonight.”
Try is the word you use when you don’t want to go somewhere. “I’ll try and make it to the event.”
Try is the word you use when you really don’t want to learn something. “I’ll try and learn it, but that’s too hard for me.”

As you can see, Try is the same thing as No. People who say they are going to “Try” are not committing to anything. They are simply giving themselves a reasonable excuse to not do something. They’ve given themselves a chance to maintain the status quo, and not make any changes in their life. They’ve told themselves, “I can’t do that, why should I even TRY?”

Quiz time: Which of these responses is more appealing to you?
I’ll try to respond to your message as soon as I can.
I will respond to your message shortly!

Obviously the second one. That response indicates that the person will get back to you. Not that they will ‘try’ to do it. If you see that, your brain has already decided that they are not going to reply. If you are the marketer looking for leads, that’s the worst thing you can say to a potential customer/lead/buyer.

It’s also the worst thing you can say to yourself. Don’t “Try” to get a system in place, just do it. Obviously it’s going to take some time and you will have to be actively working on it. Don’t just “Try” to do it. Just go ahead and do it.

Why? Because “Try” should be added to your 4 letter word list, and not used in business.