Hump Day

This month’s blog takes less than four minutes to read. Invest those few minutes to learn about… Hump Day.

Most people familiar with this slang term recognize it as referring to "Wednesday," the middle of the traditional work week. On this day, you’re over the hump, and it becomes easier to look forward to Friday.

However, today I'm discussing a specific Wednesday: July 2nd, 2025. This day is the ultimate "Hump Day" for the entire year!

Up until July 2nd, those of you who made a New Year’s Resolution had more days to achieve your goals than not. But starting on July 3rd, you will have fewer days left to reach your goals or maintain your resolutions.

So, are you at least halfway there?

By now, you must have learned something you didn't know when you made that resolution—whether about the goal itself or even about yourself. Now is the time to take a new inventory of the challenge or opportunity that made this the one goal you committed to accomplish by the end of the year.

What have you learned that can help you better understand this goal, challenge, or opportunity? Or has it become irrelevant?

In the AriaReady world, we often discuss how words matter, but even more so, how labels do.

The words we use—especially when we speak to ourselves—really matter. In our conversations with others, our words convey our thoughts, intentions, and feelings about the world around us.

I’d like to offer a challenge for the remaining half of the year for those willing to go out on a limb with me. From this limb, I will show you a perspective you’ve seldom seen, yet has always been right in front of you.

The challenge is this: let’s take one word that we all use every day—a word that is ubiquitous in American language. A short word, just three letters long, and consciously reduce or eliminate it from our thoughts and speech.

The word is “TRY” along with all its forms (tries, trying, tried).

On one hand, it’s an easy word to stop using. Many sentences containing the word “try” can be made clearer simply by removing it.

However, for many of us, it has gradually crept deeper into our daily thoughts and conversations.

Here’s an example to illustrate my point:

Aria, a talented singer, often found herself saying, "I'll try to send out those Thank You notes today," or "I'll try to practice my challenging aria for an extra hour." She had a beautiful voice, but getting her "foot in the door" felt like an insurmountable hurdle. Her workbooks, received at the Aria Ready workshops, lay open to sections on "Creating a Plan of Action" and "Business Strategies," yet she consistently postponed the necessary "work."

When faced with a challenging conversation, she thought, "I'll try to use their inner language system," but often reacted emotionally instead of actively listening. Her efforts felt incomplete, lacking the "full participation" that the workshops emphasized. She was "trying to please" others or avoid discomfort rather than being "authentic, genuine, and consistent."

(To Be Continued)

It’s just one tiny word. How hard can it be?

Again, the question is: “Are you ready?”

Who wants to join me?