Don’t Listen to Your Parents (at least on this one)

Despite what we’ve been taught, at crunch time trying harder rarely works. Many examples, across a number of fields—athletic, military, and business—show that trying harder under pressure is counterproductive. Think about your best performances. Were you grinding and full of anxiety? I’m guessing no. More than likely, you remember your best performances as being almost effortless. These performances are often described as being “in the zone.”

Instead of trying harder when you’re under pressure, a better approach to getting in the zone is to “Try Easy!”