Yoda Was One Smart Marketing Mofo (Do or Do Not, there is no Try)

You remember Yoda back in Empire Strikes back?

(You know the GOOD Star Wars movie back before big George Lucas decided to make Darth Vader all emo).

In “Empire,” Yoda rides Luke around  Dogabah like a whiny pony and teaches him the ways of the force . . .

Near the end of his training, Yoda tells Luke to use the force to raise his sunken Starfighter out of the swamp so he can fly off and get his hand cut off by his Dad.

Luke looks at the multi-ton X-Wing, glances at Yoda with a “you’re nuts” look on his face and (already anticipating defeat) says “OK, I’ll try.”

Which prompts Yoda to utter one of the greatest bits of pop philosophy of the last 50 years (and one of the most quoted lines in movie history.) He says . . .

Do or do not. There is no try.”

Which is great for a couple of reasons.

1. It’s one of the coolest bits of “Pop Philosophy” of the last 50 years (and makes you wonder what happened to Lucas when he started writing the downright-horrible sequels).

2. Hidden in that sage statement is some REALLY good advice for marketers and persuaders of all stripes . . . and some cool little copywriting advice that can subtly shift even “tough” prospects from tire-kicker to eager buyer in just a few little sentences.

Here’s why . . .

According to Dictionary.com “Try” means . . .

• 1. To attempt to do or accomplish. Try before you say it’s simple.
• 2. To make an attempt or effort; strive. Try to complete the examination.

(There are other definitions having to do with opening windows, playing rugby and sailing ships, but they don’t apply to what we’re talking about here today so we’ll skip them.)

The key thing to notice in both of these definitions is that while they say you’ll ATTEMPT to do something, they don’t actually say you’ll be successful at doing it (or that you’ll actually come close.)

When you come down to it, the word “Try” actually gives you permission NOT to do what you say you’re “trying” to do and lets you off the hook for failure.

So if you ask someone what they’re doing, they might say . . .

“I’m trying to get into med school.” “I’m trying to write a great salesletter.” or “I’m trying to be faithful to my wife.” (Oh, Tiger, how you have fallen.)

But do you notice how when you’re trying to do something you’re not actually DOING it? In fact if you’re TRYING to do something, it’s pretty much impossible to get the result you say you’re trying for. Why? Well, as soon as you actually DO what you say you’re doing you can’t “Try” anymore.”

Here’s where this gets fun:

In hypnosis, NLP and (gulp) marketing, you can  actually use the word try to command someone NOT to do something.

For instance, think about these two commands:

1. Move your left foot.
2. Try to move your left foot.

If you really let yourself notice, you’ll see that they feel radically different in your brain.

If we’re sitting somewhere together and I, using my freaky “hypno voice,” tell you to “move your left foot” a whole bunch of neurons will fire in your brain and (if you’re in a mindset where you feel like doing what I tell you to do) you’ll probably feel a little twitch down your left leg.

Heck, you might even start tapping along like a jazz drummer working furiously on his hi-hat.

But if I tell you to TRY to move your left foot a whole different thing happens . . . your subconscious starts thinking about the IDEA of moving your left foot but will actually come up with a whole bunch of excuses for why you can’t actually move your left foot no matter how hard you “try” (because, like I said a second ago as soon as you actually DO something you’re not TRYING anymore.)

A fun example of this comes from the old “sticky hand” hypnosis trick where you convince someone that they’re sweaty mitt is stuck to a wall. Whoever’s doing the hypnosis would say . . .

“And even though you might try to move your hand off the wall you find that no matter how much you try you can’t move your hand because your hand is firmly glued to the wall like your hand is made of metal and the wall is a powerful electromagnet. In fact, the harder you try to move your hand the more firmly you feel stuck.”

Or something like that.

As you can see, “Try” is actually kind of a weakness word. Or an “excuse” word. (Kids use it all the time “But mom, I TRIED to clean my room.” Whatever, kiddo.)

And the more you think about it the more you’ll realize that telling someone to “Try to relax,” “Try to remember,” “Try to stand,” “Try to forgive” or “Try to write a blog post” is actually cutting your own legs out from under you and leading you to failure.

(Try not to think of a giant pink elephant wearing a bikini. Ouch. Bet you just failed at that one.)

“OK, Chris, you’ve had your fun, but how do we apply this concept to our marketing and copywriting?”

Great question (I love it when you guys pay attention).

There’s two main things I want you to do after you read this blog post.

1. Go through your marketing and ad copy and make sure you’re not sabotaging your sales process by telling people to try (and fail) when you actually want them to take action.

If you’re doing future pacing in your copy (where you want someone to imagine how great their life is going to be once they put your product into action) the worst thing you could do is tell your prospect to “Try to imagine . . .”

And I’m sure you would never even think of getting to your big, awesome close and then say “Try to order now. We’ll try to take your order when we can.” =-)

2. If you wanna be sneaky, you can start using the word “Try” in your copy, your emails, your videos and everything else you do cause your prospects to come around to your way of thinking . . .

“Listen: After coming this far down this letter and hearing everything I’ve told you today I think we both know that, no matter how hard you try, you’re not going to be able to go back to your old way of dealing with your problem. You’ve seen the pot of the gold at the end of the rainbow . . . you know what it will be like to be able to be finally free of the anxiety that’s hounded you for so long and no matter how hard you try you can’t forget that.”

Blah blah blah. You get the idea. “Try” is a great way to destroy an idea or a concept that you don’t agree with. Powerful stuff.

3. Think about how you use the word “try” in your own everyday life.

You’ll be amazed at how your interactions with your boss, your employees and your mate change when you become just a LITTLE BIT more aware of how the word “try” works.

And if you want to have a LOT of  fun, pay attention to the language you use when you’re talking to your self. Are you subconsciously telling yourself to “Try” to be successful? Could the fact that you’ve been “trying” for so long be what’s actually holding you back?

Got it? 

Leave me a comment (don’t TRY to leave me a comment, freaking DO IT) if you have any questions or comments.

And let me know if you want more of this “Language Geek Hypno Stuff” I’ve got a whole bunch of it banging around in the back of my brain.

* Special thanks to Igor Ledochowski who’s the guy who first introduced me to hypnosis and woke me up to how a lot of this stuff works. Great teacher and a great guy even though he dresses like an Austrian Count . . . (Wait, he IS an Austrian count. I guess he has an excuse.)

** There’s a whole lot more that can be said about words that give you permission for success. For instance, if a friend is stressed out I might say “And you begin to realize how easy it is to allow yourself to relax.” That gives the subconscious mind the “excuse” it needs to actually chill the freak out.

* Yeah, I’m a geek and I love this stuff. I admit it.

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