Source https://zenhabits.net/dao/
By Leo Babauta
I’ve noticed that a lot of us will be pretty wiped out at the end of a long day of work or social activity, to the point where we need time to recuperate from exhaustion. There’s nothing wrong with that, but let’s talk about the possibility of doing hard things without exhausting ourselves.
We might call it Effortless Effort (similar to “wu wei” in Daoism) — the idea of acting without a huge amount of tension or extraneous physical effort.
When you talk to someone about “trying hard,” they usually will put a lot of energy into something, and quickly exhaust themselves. “Trying hard” is equated to being very tense, pushing hard with your body and mind, and putting everything you have into it.
If you talk to someone about “relaxing,” they will usually think of that as the opposite of “trying hard.” They think of lying on the couch, muscles relaxed, not doing anythin…