No. 238 - Law of Reversed Effort

While reading Fifth Business today I came across the following dialogue between two of the main characters:

"You're just not trying, Leo," he said one night when I was dining with them. "You've simply got to try harder."

"Perhaps she's trying too hard," I said.

"Don't be absurd, Dunny. There's no such thing as trying too hard, whatever you're doing."

"Yes there is. Have you never heard of the Law of Reversed Effort? The harder you try, the more likely you are to miss the mark."

"I never heard such nonsense. Who says that?"

I learned that Aldous Huxely, the English author of Brave New World, said that. The actual quote was:

There is a Law of Reversed Effort. The harder we try with the conscious will to do something, the less we shall succeed. 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. We cannot make ourselves understand; the most we can do is to foster a state of mind, in which understanding may come to us.

While I never heard it called this before, I've seen this law in action. Most notably, on nights before I need to wake early to catch a flight, I just cannot sleep. I go to bed early, and even set three alarms so there's no way I can over-sleep and miss my flight. Inevitably, I always end up with a restless and sleepless night.