Trying and prioritizing

When someone says, “I’ll try to get it done by next week,” it’s not often that they mean, “I’m not sure if I’m capable of this task, but I will do my best.”

No. What they usually mean is, “I can do this, but in order to accomplish it by next week, I’ll need to prioritize it over other things ... and I’m not sure I’m ready to do that.”

So when we hear, “I’ll try,” we might really be hearing, “I’ll try to prioritize,” which is another way of saying, “I’ve got to convince myself that this is important to me.”