I tried. I did everything I can do. I’ve exhausted all options. I can’t think of anything else. There is nothing more I can do. I tried!

Really?

What would you do if you knew failing meant you would die. What would you do different? How many more hours would you put in? How much more creative would you be? How much harder would you push? How much sleep would you get? How much time would you spend on other, unrelated things? How much help would you ask for? If you knew you were going to die, would things look different?

When we are desperate and the consequence for failure is dire, trying is no longer OK. When this happens, we stop allow trying to be an acceptable outcome.

The next time you say you tried and failed ask yourself, would you have done anything different if your life were on the line? Then you’ll know if you REALLY tried.

Treat it like life or death, then their will be no question.