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In life, effort is often counterproductive – especially in matters of the mind

• The surest way to become tense, awkward, and confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard – one that thinks too much. Benjamin Hoff
• The power of calm: In matters of the mind, the more mental effort you apply to any given situation, the less will be the result. Richard Carlson
• Effort,  Letting go,  Presence,  Relaxation,  Calmness,  Allowing,  Efficiency,  Go with the flow,  Flow states,  Slow down

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Your ability to accomplish things often increases if you relax your effort …

• Being relaxed, at peace with yourself, confident, emotionally neutral, loose, and free-floating – these are the keys to successful performance in almost everything.  Wayne Dyer
• Everything you do can be done better from a place of relaxation. Stephen C. Paul
• The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be. Bruce Lee
• The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. James Allen
• The power of calm: In matters of the mind, the more mental effort you apply to any given situation, the less will be the result. Richard Carlson
• The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil. Marcus Tullius Cicero
• Your ability to be productive is directly proportional to your ability to relax. David Allen
• Your power is proportional to your ability to relax. David Allen
• Relaxation

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… while trying too hard can jam your creative abilities …

• Conscious effort inhibits and ‘jams’ the automatic creative mechanism. Maxwell Maltz
• Excessive effort can also result from impatience or exaltation, two states that lead nowhere. If you begin climbing a high mountain at a run, your lungs will soon force you to stop. In the same way, if you draw a bow too far, it will break, or if you try to cook on too high a flame, you will end up burning your food. Matthieu Ricard
• Trying too hard can actually have the opposite effect to what you want. Amanda Harvey
• By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond winning. Lao Tzu
• Creativity

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… and damage your health

• If your teeth are clenched and your fists are clenched, your lifespan is probably clenched. Terri Guillemets
• Health

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Effortless doing lets go of excessive effort and struggle

• There’s a concept in Taoism, “wei wu wei”, which is often translated as “action without action” or “effortless doing”. I prefer to think of it more in the sense of “action that does not involve struggle or excessive effort”. Leo Babauta
• Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it. Ray Bradbury
• Effortlessness does not mean no effort but it means effort without struggle. Enoch Tan
• Letting go of doing.  Peter Russell

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Effortless doing is about doing less and less, with less and less effort

• Effortless action isn’t something that is achieved overnight. In fact, if you try too hard to achieve it, you’ve defeated yourself already. Instead, when you find yourself in a whirlwind of activity, and pushing hard, slow down, relax, and do less. Eliminate some of your motions so that you’re moving with economy. Push less, and flow more. Slowly learn to do less, and then do less, finding ways of doing that require little action but lots of effectiveness. Learn to let things unfold naturally instead of pushing them to happen. Let people learn on their own instead of controlling them. Set things up so they happen without you having to steer everything. Slowly learn to use less effort, and then less than that. Leo Babauta

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Effortless doing requires letting go of trying too hard

• Trying too hard can actually have the opposite effect to what you want. Amanda Harvey
• Act without doing; work without effort. Lao Tzu
• Do or do not. There is no try. Yoda
• He is beginning to master wisdom when he tries to learn how not to try. Paul Brunton
• Practice not-doing. And everything will fall into place. Lao Tzu
• It is not the degree of ‘willing’ or ‘trying’, but the way in which the energy is directed, that is going to make the ‘willing’ or ‘trying’ effective. M. Alexander
• You just do it, that’s how. Its pure Zen Buddhism: Don’t try to do, just do. Do what you love and love what you do. That’s the basic rule of life. If you live this life without trying, it’s good. If you try too hard, it won’t be any good. It just has to be done, period — like an explosion. Todd Aaron Jensen
• By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond winning. Lao Tzu
• All effort is ignorance. Francis Lucille
• You only lose what you cling to. Buddha
• Letting go

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Effortless doing requires being still before you take action …

• At the start of each day, or work period, take a few minutes to be quiet. Peter Russell
• In karate there is an image that’s used to define the position of perfect readiness: “mind like water.” Imagine throwing a pebble into a still pond. How does the water respond? The answer is, totally appropriately to the force and mass of the input; then it returns to calm. It doesn’t overreact or underreact. David Allen
• Pause before taking on a new task and take a moment to savor the present moment. Peter Russell
• Stillness,  Action

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… and carrying that inner stillness into the activity itself

• But there is something you can ‘do’. You can continually cease doing, efforting, resisting, denying or trying at all. You can continually move into pure being. Which means to follow the path of your soul – and allow authentic doing to arise from this place. It is to follow the heart felt pull and to trust that when you ‘do’ this, all answers, solutions and goals will simply fall into place. Chris Bourne
• In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you. Deepak Chopra
• Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there is in silence. Max Ehrmann
• Stillness and action are relative, not absolute, principles. It is important to find a balance of yin and yang, not just in qigong, but in everyday life. In movement, seek stillness and rest. In rest, be mindful and attentive. Ken Cohen
• One’s action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be mere rushing on. D. H. Lawrence
• Even when he is still, The selfish man is busy. Even when he is busy, the selfless man is still. Ashtavakra Gita
• Quiet the chattering mind promotes directed action. Kare Anderson
• When doing becomes infused with the timeless quality of being that is success. Eckhart Tolle
• You may be engaged in several directions and work with enormous zest, yet remain inwardly free and quiet, with a mirror like mind, which reflects all, without being affected. Nisargadatta  Maharaj
• You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose. Indira Gandhi

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Effortless doing requires letting go of all physical and mental tension

• Zen is not effort. Effort is tension, effort is work, effort is to achieve something. Zen is not something to achieve. You are already that. Just relax, relax so deeply that you become a revelation to yourself. Osho
• Pause to notice how your mind feels when it is in the doing mode. Is there a faint state of tension? A sense of pressure? A feeling of focussedness? A mental intensity? Whatever there is, just notice it.  Peter Russell
• Check yourself four or five times a day, and say to yourself, ‘Am I making my work harder than it actually is? Am I using muscles that have nothing to do with the work I’m doing?’ Dale Carnegie
• Test yourself again at the end of the day, by asking yourself, ‘Just how tired am I? If I am tired, it is not because of mental work I have done but because of the way I have done it. Dale Carnegie
• You translate everything, whether physical, mental or spiritual, into muscular tension. M. Alexander
• Letting go

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Effortless doing requires letting go of your sense of obligation

• Letting Go of Doing is not about not doing things. It is about letting go of the doing mode of consciousness. When we are stuck in the “doing mode” our attention is caught in the “having to do them, drive to get them done.  When I am caught in this mode my mind feels tight. My body adopts a background tension. My attention becomes tunnel vision; I see only what I am doing, and filter out other aspects of the present moment. I miss the beauty that surrounds me. I become a human doing rather than a human being.  Peter Russell
• Every effort under compulsion demands a sacrifice of energy. I never paid such a price. Nikola Tesla

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Effortless doing requires having clear intentions

• To move forward simply set your intentions, be grateful for what you have, be open to what is possible, and the rest just happens as a beautiful and effortless flow. Bryant McGill
• The thinking of creative and successful men is never exerted in any direction other than that intended. That is why great men produce such a prodigious amount of work, seemingly without effort and without fatigue. The amount of work such men leave to posterity is amazing. Walter Russell
• Intention

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Effortless doing requires focusing on what you’re doing

• Avoid fragmentation: Find your focus and seek simplicity. Purposeful living calls for elegant efficiency and economy of effort—expanding the minimum time and energy necessary to achieve desired goals. Dan Millman
• The jack-of-all-trades seldom is good at any. Concentrate all of your efforts on one definite chief aim. Napoleon Hill

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Effortless doing requires focusing on the process without being overly attached to results

• We can watch our motivations for action and soften into the need of any kind of outcome, yet totally committing ourselves without reservation to what we’re given to do.  Chris Bourne

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Effortless doing requires taking time out to sharpen your saw

• Sharpen the saw is about balanced renewal in all four dimensions of human need: physical, spiritual, mental and social / emotional. Stephen Covey
• Suppose you came upon someone in the woods working to saw down a tree. They are exhausted from working for hours. You suggest they take a break to sharpen the saw. They might reply, ” I didn’t have time to sharpen the saw, I’m busy sawing!”  Stephen Covey
• Habit 7 is taking the time to sharpen the saw. By renewing the four dimensions of your nature – physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional, you can work more quickly and effortlessly. To do this, we must be proactive. This is a Quadrant II (important, not urgent) activity that must be acted on. It’s at the center of our Circle of Influence, so we must do it for ourselves.  Stephen Covey
• We must never be too busy to take time to sharpen the saw. Stephen Covey
• Sharpen your saw. How? Exercise, meditate, journal, spend time with loved ones, go on vacation, play, dance, enjoy your hobbies. Brian Johnson
• If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe.  Abraham Lincoln
• Rest and renewal

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Effortless doing comes when your actions are motivated by love

• Least effort is expended when my motivations are motivated by love, because nature is held together by love. When my actions are motivated by love, my energy multiplies and accumulates. Attention to my ego (when I seek power and control over others or seek approval from others) consumes the greatest amount of energy. When my internal reference point is my spirit, when I am immune from criticism and unafraid of any challenge, I harness the power of love. Deepak Chopra
• When your actions are motivated by love, your energy multiplies and accumulates — and the surplus energy you gather and enjoy can be channeled to create anything that you want, including unlimited wealth. Deepak Chopra
• Motivation,  Love

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Effortless doing comes most easily when you follow your passion

• You just do it, that’s how. Its pure Zen Buddhism: Don’t try to do, just do. Do what you love and love what you do. That’s the basic rule of life. If you live this life without trying, it’s good. If you try too hard, it won’t be any good. It just has to be done, period — like an explosion. Todd Aaron Jensen
• There is nothing more marvellous than doing something you love to do and getting paid for it. It ceases to become work, money, and effort; and it becomes fun, your expression of the joy of life. Stuart Wilde
• The antidote to exhaustion isn’t rest. It’s wholeheartedness. David Whyte
• Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you. Oprah Winfrey
• Activities we love fill us with energy even when we are physically exhausted. When people place themselves in situations that lead to their being in the zone, they tap into a primal source of energy. They are literally more alive because of it. Sir Ken Robinson
• Act because of passion. Not because you “should”, but because you’re excited to do so. It will feel as if you’re going downhill, because it’s what you want to do. Leo Babauta
• Sustained enthusiasm brings into existence a wave of creative energy, and all you have to do is ‘ride the wave’. Eckhart Tolle
• Passion,  Do what you love

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Leo Babauta’s recommendations for effortless action

• Act because of passion. Not because you “should”, but because you’re excited to do so.
• Don’t try to control what you can’t control.
• When you find yourself in a whirlwind of activity, and pushing hard, slow down, relax, and do less.
• Learn to let things unfold naturally instead of forcing them to happen.
• Let people learn on their own instead of controlling them.
• Set things up so they happen without you having to steer everything.
• Don’t force things, but do what comes naturally.
• Make small, gradual changes.

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Stop putting unnecessary effort into things you dislike doing

• Dropping the things I hate frees me up to do the things I love. How much more skillful, soulful, and useful could your best work get if you didn’t spend so much energy pushing yourself into doing stuff you hate? Leo Babauta
• Activities we don’t like drain us in minutes, even if we approach them at our physical peak of fitness. Sir Ken Robinson
• You’ll never sustain any action for long if you hate doing it. Change course to something you’re more excited about, and things will get easier. Leo Babauta

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Stop putting unnecessary effort into unimportant things

• Do less, and you’ll force yourself to choose between what’s just busywork, and what really matters. Life then becomes effortless, as you accomplish big things while being less busy. Leo Babauta
• The essential question is not, “How busy are you?’ but ‘What are you busy at?’ ‘Are you doing what fulfills you? Oprah Winfrey
• It’s not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about? Henry David Thoreau
• Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing. Lao Tzu
• Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Timothy Ferriss
• Find what matters most to you, and eliminate as much of the rest as possible. Leo Babauta
• Most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, ‘Is this necessary?’  Marcus Aurelius
• Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of the nonessentials. Lin Yutang
• Preserve your energy – do not waste it on mediocre activity. Stuart Wilde
• Put first things first

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Stop putting unnecessary effort into correcting your weaknesses

• I do not believe that you should devote overly much effort to correcting your weaknesses. Rather, I believe that the highest success in living and the deepest emotional satisfaction comes from building and using your signature strengths. Martin Seligman
• Grow your strengths

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Reduce effort by being yourself rather than pretending to be someone you’re not

• I find it an effort to keep up appearances. Dusty Springfield
• Just be yourself and remember you cannot be anything else, whatsoever you do. All effort is futile. You have to be just yourself. Osho
• It is not only possible to be the person you pretend to be, but there is less effort involved. Robert Brault
• The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. Anne Morrow Lindbergh
• Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.  Chinese Proverb
• A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star. Edwin H. Chapin
• By choosing not to allow parts of ourselves to exist, we are forced to expend huge amounts of psychic energy to keep them beneath the surface. Debbie Ford
• Be who you are

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Reduce effort by going with the flow rather than trying to control everything

• To swim a fast 100 metres, it’s better to swim with the tide than to work on your stroke. Warren Buffett
• You are learning too much, remembering too much, trying to hard… relax a little bit, give life a chance to flow its own way, unassisted by your mind and effort. Stop directing the river’s flow!  Mooji
• It is like a boat going to the ocean. Before it reaches the ocean it is dragged with much effort, but once it reaches the ocean it is propelled without effort by the wind. The distance it travels on the ocean in one day is farther than it could be dragged by the force in a hundred years. Avatamsaka Sutra
• Flow is the natural, effortless unfolding of our life in a way that moves us towards wholeness and harmony. Charlene Belitz & Meg Lundstrom
• Life is water, and we tend to push too hard, thrash about, force things, struggle. Instead, learn to float, learn to allow things to become effortless. Leo Babauta
• Don’t push the river, it flows anyway. Barry Stevens
• Life just is. You have to flow with it. Give yourself to the moment. Let it happen. Gerry Brown
• Go with the flow

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Reduce effort by taking small, consistent steps

• Perfection of effort is not required, by the way. It is the consistency of attempting to work these tools that brings the progress. It’s like anything else. If I want to tone muscle, lifting a ten-pound weight a few times every day will move me toward my goal much quicker than hoisting a fifty- pound barbell once a week. Yes, it really is true: “Slow and steady wins the race.” Just try a little, every day. You’ll see. Holly Mosier
• Remember that the most difficult tasks are consummated, not by a single explosive burst of energy or effort, but by the constant daily application of the best you have within you. Og Mandino
• Success is the sum of all small efforts, repeated day in and day out. Robert Collier
• A big occasional effort does not have the same beneficial effect as less spectacular effort that is more constant. Matthieu Ricard
• There is no one giant step that does it. It’s a lot of little steps. Peter A. Cohen
• Small tasks are always better than large ones. Leo Babauta
• The power of small steps

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Reduce effort by remove stress and obsession from your doing

• An obsession does not help you at all to reach your objective, and even ends up taking the pleasure out of the climb. Paulo Coelho
• Obsessive goal orientation. The desire of most people today for quick, sure, and highly visible results is perhaps the deadliest enemy of mastery. George Leonard
• If a warrior is to succeed at anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession. Carlos Castaneda
• Stress

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Reduce effort by focusing on the 20% that leads to 80% of the result

• The 80/20 way enables anyone to get extraordinary results without extra-ordinary effort. A small amount of our energy leads to most great things in our lives. A small portion of our time leads to most of our happiness and fulfillment. Richard Koch

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Stop thinking in terms of brute force

• Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls, but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over walls; they don’t demolish them. Carlos Castaneda
• Think, for a moment, about the metaphors you use to describe your experience of life. We often see life as a struggle, a battle, a war, a difficult journey with obstacles to be overcome, a test to be passed. These images colour our actions and determine the way we go about doing things. We have come to see brute force as the best way to get things done. Mark Harrison

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Make your relationships more effortless by practicing compassion

• Be compassionate. This makes dealing with others much more effortless. It also makes you feel better about yourself. People like you more, and you improve the lives of others. Make every dealing with another human being one where you practice compassion. Leo Babauta
• Compassion

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Learn to be effortless in your meditation

• When it comes to the basic skill of relaxing into a quieter state of mind, effort generally turns out to be counter- productive. Peter Russell
• Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything.  Do not be a meditator.  Do not become enlightened.  When you sit, let it be.  When you walk, let it be.  Grasp at nothing.  Resist nothing. Ajhan Chah
• Meditation

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Learn to position yourself effortlessly within each moment

• The more we try to catch hold of the present moment the more elusive it becomes. It is like trying to clutch water in one’s hands. The harder we grip, the more it slips through our fingers. Alan Watts
• We must learn to position ourselves effortlessly within each moment, rather than stumbling through time. We can either escape from the moment or stay with it as it unfolds and do something good with it. M. Forni
• Live in the moment

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Realise than an excessive effort in pursuing happiness can actually block it

• Happiness is as a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond our grasp, but which, if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you. N. Hawthorne
• Now and then, it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just BE happy. Guillaume Apollinaire
• The farmer loses his watch in the barn. He gets a group of boys to go into the barn and try to find it. They search high and low but cannot locate it. They leave. One of the boys then goes in alone and comes out with the watch. “How did you find it?” asks the famer. The boy says, “I found it by sitting quietly and listening for the ticking.”   It’s the same with happiness. If you sit quietly, it’ll come and find you. Behram Ghista
• Happiness

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