Monday, June 15, 2009

Do or Do Not

By Ali Cross

Master Yoda said it all when he told the young and whiney Luke Skywalker “Do or do not. There is no try.”

That great line applies to all things in life. You either run or do not run a marathon. You either do or do not clean your house. You either do or do not write your book.

When you say “I’ll try,” you are already admitting defeat. Saying you’ll try, means you don’t believe you can succeed—you’re giving yourself an out, before you even begin. If you say you’ll try, when you fail, you have a built in excuse: “Well, I didn’t really think I could do it anyway.”

However when you commit to do something, if you fail, you are on the line.

There is no middle ground in writing. If you’re wishy-washy about your craft, you certainly won’t go anywhere. Writing requires your whole heart. Not a sliver, not even half. Only your whole heart will do.

6 comments:

Keith N Fisher said...

I will do . . . but if i do not because of . . . well thats not fair . . . I need an out . . . please can i have an out . . . okay just call me Luke. :)

Elana Johnson said...

I love that quote. It's totally true! Thanks for the reminder.

ali cross said...

Well you guys are trooper for reading even though it was practically impossible! (for those of you who don't know what I mean, the post came through with dark text on the dark background and it was so difficult to see.)

Luke, ah, er, Keith ... you got it!

And Elana ... kind of simple eh? It's one of those KISS rules ... Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Nichole Giles said...

Awesome thoughts, Ali. "I do believe in miracles, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do..."

Nichole

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Ali! This is just what I needed today. I'm off to DO what I need to! Write and clean! Aww...I didn't want to clean!

Kimberly Job said...

Okay, the diet starts tomorrow. I'm hanging this on the fridge. :)