The law of reversed effort: The harder you try, the harder you fall
Unravel the paradox of the law of reversed effort, a concept that challenges conventional wisdom. Discover how pushing too hard can lead to counterproductive results, and explore strategies to harness effort effectively for optimal outcomes.
The Law of Reversed Effort
Aldous Huxley called this the law of reversed effort.
- It mirrors an old idea found in Daoism, Wu Wei, which is to step away from all the busyness and just let things happen.
- Sometimes, life requires that you step back.
Practical applications
“Not doing” is fundamental to the nature of many tasks.
- Writing: If you have been told to write something, especially on a deadline, the mind often can go into meltdown grasping for something – anything – to write. It’s much better to let ideas come and write them in a notebook so they don’t get lost
- Technical skills: When you are learning a new sport or skill, you have to learn the technique. You go through the motions, ticking off steps in your head, and eventually end up succeeding. Stress and anxiety: When we obsessively run things over in our heads, we actually make anxiety worse
You can’t force it
When you have a mosquito bite, a broken bone, or a nosebleed, you leave it be. Picking, prodding, and probing only exacerbate the problem.
- Perhaps it is time to step away from what you are doing and enjoy Wu Wei or inaction.
The Law of Reversed Effort
It’s the idea that the more we try to do something, the worse we become at it
- Aldous Huxley coined the term
- Proficiency and the results of proficiency come only to those who have learned the paradoxical art of doing and not doing, or combining relaxation with activity, of letting go as a person in order that the immanent and transcendent unknown quantity may take hold
Wu Wei
To surrender to a greater power – or a nobler, righteous one – is not an act of cowardice.
- In fact, it is often the very opposite. Wu Wei is to appreciate, recognize, and accept the pull of forces far greater than us. It is to walk the path that opens up and push the door that gives.