‘Try-hard’

We have learned to fear failure, and now something stranger has taken hold: shame at trying. As the new school year begins, with its familiar debates and resolutions, people once again face pressure to perform while concealing the work involved. We edit our lives and discard their most human parts, including the attempts.

The rules of the performance are familiar: do not reply too quickly, do not show too much interest, do not appear overly enthusiastic, and never reveal how long something took. The goal is to avoid becoming a “try-hard”, the English expression for someone who seems to make too much effort. To sustain the illusion, success must appear to have happened naturally. “It flowed,” “it happened,” or “it suddenly came together” replace any admission of persistence.

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It flowed.

The same logic may have infected politics. Governing demands sustained effort: listening to people who disagree, searching for imperfect solutions, admitting when a measure has failed and promising to try again. None of that is especially photogenic. A forceful phrase and an opponent to blame fit more easily into a headline, a tweet or a video shared before viewers have even finished watching it.

September is an especially telling moment for this contradiction. It is the month when children are told to study and listen, and adults are urged to return to work with energy and new goals. Politicians, the column argues, should also abandon the performance of effortless success. They should listen, correct themselves and admit that they do not have every answer, even when the effort is awkward and makes them look like try-hards.

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It happened.