Give It a Try

“Give It a Try” from Ringo’s Liverpool 8 album, encourages us not to hesitate with a gentle Latin beat. This warm, encouraging track insists that the act of trying has its own value completely independent of the outcome. By the time Ringo recorded this song, he had lived long enough to see how many people spent their lives preparing to begin rather than actually beginning.

Inaction masquerades as wisdom when it is often just the fear of failure holding us back. We tell ourselves we are waiting for more information, more resources, more confidence, more time. But Ringo, who spent his entire career as the Beatle most doubted by the outside world, knew that the confidence you are waiting for rarely arrives before you act. It arrives during the act itself.

Vulnerability is a part of every attempt at something we care about. When you try something, you open yourself to the possibility of falling short. But it is the attempt itself that teaches you what you are made of and where you need to grow.

Every great musician, leader, or creator has a catalogue of imperfect early attempts that were essential to their eventual mastery. Ringo himself was told he was not good enough. He tried anyway. The drumming that would one day be praised by the world's greatest musicians came from someone who simply refused to let other people's doubts become his own. He was always willing to “give it a try.” 

Today, I will take one concrete step toward something I have been hesitating to begin, trusting that the act of starting is more valuable than waiting for the perfect moment.

What attempt have you been putting off because you were waiting to feel more ready? What is the smallest possible first step you could take today to move from hesitation to action?