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ialdabaoth
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05 Jan 2013, 11:09 pm

What does this mean, and how do I do it? (assume no context is given beyond "stop asking how and just do it!")



Sylvastor
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05 Jan 2013, 11:18 pm

"Try harder" often indicates you failed at the action you were doing.
This doesn't usually have to be something bad as I have written down in the examples below.
Anyway, it means you have to retry the action, start over again and try to be better, improve it. I can't tell you how to do it as this is specific to a given situation.

To give an example from social life that I have made from observating others:
I noticed girls use this also in a flirty and/or teasing way, when they want to get your attention when you want to ask them out (just an example). They usually seem to hold you back to make themselves more interesting and/or to get an idea whether you are worth it or not, to judge you and your motives. If you try again and "try harder", raise the level of your action and keep at it, they eventually might accept you asking her out.
As I said, this is a practical example from social life.

To give an example from a non-social situation:
When a teacher knows you have the potential to write good marks in tests but are close to fail at one test and get a mark that is worse than your usual, they could tell you "Try harder, I know you can do better."
This just means: "Learn more, prepare better and try to overcome potential nervousness during such a test to use your full potential."
Or in general, they can say that to keep you motivated.

In fact, this term "try harder" is usually used to motivate a person to retry/keep going and become better.

I hope this was of some help. :)


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arielhawksquill
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06 Jan 2013, 6:55 am

It means they can't see how hard you are already trying.



seaturtleisland
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06 Jan 2013, 11:51 am

It means they don't understand how much you're struggling and that you really are confused. You ask how to do something but they think it should be self-explanatory so they tell you to "just do it". "You're not trying hard enough".

Yes you are. You really don't understand but they don't get that. They think you're making excuses and asking stupid questions so they tell you to just try harder.



Dreycrux
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06 Jan 2013, 11:54 am

I don't like these sayings such as "Try harder" "If you fall off the horse get back on" blah blah blah...Try to separate yourself from these phrases crafted by society and just use your own brain. remember "Talk is cheap!" haha



ialdabaoth
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10 Jan 2013, 4:35 pm

seaturtleisland wrote:
It means they don't understand how much you're struggling and that you really are confused. You ask how to do something but they think it should be self-explanatory so they tell you to "just do it". "You're not trying hard enough".

Yes you are. You really don't understand but they don't get that. They think you're making excuses and asking stupid questions so they tell you to just try harder.


See, to me, "making excuses" and "asking stupid questions" are social judgments - if someone says I'm asking stupid questions, that means I am asking stupid questions. If someone says I'm just making excuses, that means I am just making excuses. The only difference between a "reason" and an "excuse" is whether people accept it or not.

Also, if people don't understand how much I'm struggling, then am I really struggling? I mean, does my pain even actually exist or matter, outside my own experience of it? If no one in control of the outcome gives a s**t about my pain, then why bother claiming that my pain is real at all?



Magnanimous
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10 Jan 2013, 5:07 pm

"Try harder" just means "Stop withholding the success I deserve."
It means they want something from you, and you're not giving it to them, so you must be doing it deliberately because you're not being sufficiently cooperative.

In other words... they're just pricks with entitlement issues.



ialdabaoth
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10 Jan 2013, 5:21 pm

Magnanimous wrote:
"Try harder" just means "Stop withholding the success I deserve."
It means they want something from you, and you're not giving it to them, so you must be doing it deliberately because you're not being sufficiently cooperative.

In other words... they're just pricks with entitlement issues.


I'm not sure that "entitlement" is the right way to frame it; generally, we say that people are acting "entitled" when they're beneath us and acting like our equals, not when they're above us and demanding that we acknowledge it.