Why "I'll Try" Is the Most Dishonest Thing You Can Say (with Carla Ondrasik)

About this episode

The episode explores the concept of 'trying' and its implications on personal effort and commitment, featuring insights from Carla Ondrasik.

Most of us have been taught that trying is virtuous — that saying "I'll try" signals good intentions and a willingness to show up. But what if trying is actually a way of opting out? What if it's the most socially acceptable excuse we've built into our language — a built-in escape hatch dressed up as effort? That's the question that sits at the center of this conversation, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since we recorded. Carla Ondrasik spent twenty years in the competitive world of music publishing — a world where trying, in her words, means dying. She's worked with artists at the highest levels of the industry, and she's spent the last two decades studying the psychology and neuroscience behind why we say we'll try and what it actually costs us. Her book, Stop Trying: The Life Transforming Power of Trying Less and Doing More , is one of those rare reads that reframes something so ordinary and so deeply ingrained that you can't un-see it once it's been named. I know, because she caught me using the word in the middle of our conversation — while talking about her book. That's how deep this goes. Six Discussion Points Trying is a mental activity, not a physical…

People in this episode

Host: Mike Vardy

Guest: Carla Ondrasik

Topics covered

• trying
• psychology
• neuroscience
• effort
• music publishing
• personal development

Keywords

• trying
• effort
• psychology
• music publishing
• personal development
• Carla Ondrasik

Sponsors

Your Clockwise Week

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Stop Trying: The Life Transforming Power of Trying Less and Doing More

More episodes of A Productive Conversation

• Letting Go of "Normal" to Finally Try Again (with Steve Kamb) · June 12, 2026 · 45 min
• The Wisdom in Waiting: Rediscovering Prudence (PM Talks S3E6) · June 10, 2026 · 55 min
• Sometimes Wrong, Never in Doubt: The Confidence That Comes From Doing the Work (with George Barrios) · June 5, 2026 · 58 min
• Why Playing the Odds Beats Beating the Odds (with Kyle Austin Young) · June 3, 2026 · 32 min
• Intention or Inertia: What Intentional Living Actually Looks Like in Practice · May 27, 2026 · 49 min
• Why Speed Is a Byproduct, Not the Goal (with Dawna Ballard) · May 20, 2026 · 1h 1m