A Man’s Life: Trying Not to Try

A Man’s Life →

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the harder you try doing something, the harder it becomes to achieve the thing you’re trying to do? Take, for example, falling asleep. The more you try to force yourself to fall asleep, the more elusive sleep becomes. Same thing with trying to be charming and relaxed in social situations. The more you think about how you’re performing with your small talk, the more nervous you get, which in turn makes you start acting like a social spaz.

Chinese philosophers understood this problem thousands of years ago and they worked on developing techniques to help followers “try without trying.” Fast-forward to today and modern neuroscience and cognitive psychology are confirming the insights these philosophers had 2,000 years ago. In Trying Not to Try, Asian Studies professor Edward Slingerland takes readers on a tour of the ancient Chinese philosophies that provided insights on how to try not to try. Today on the podcast, Edward and I discuss what these ancient philosophies can teach us about trying not to try and how they can help us live more spontaneous and sincere lives.