The French Art of Not Trying Too Hard. Book Review

The French Art of Not Trying Too Hard.

We review The French Art of Not Trying Too Hard the book the Mail on Sunday describes as ‘a thought-provoking and delightful book.’

Have you ever felt that the more you try the more your goals keep moving further away? It doesn’t matter how hard you apply yourself, you just don’t get what you want?  When we want to achieve something, we can often feel totally frustrated when we don’t see any results. No pain without gain is in fact ingrained into our societal thinking. 

With this kind of attitude, sometimes life does seem to be an uphill climb. Is there such a thing as just trying too hard? Ask yourself this, have you ever not tried too hard and things worked out anyway? Certainly, some people do seem more able to deal with problems of modern-day life with much more ease than others, almost making it look easy. So what’s their secret? 

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The Book

Is there an easier, smarter way we can all live? Can we gain without too much pain? With anxiety levels on the increase, trying to find a stress free, smarter way of living and succeeding has got to be high on all our agendas. And this is just the topic that is addressed by Ollivier Pourriol in his Novel ‘The French Art of Not Trying too Hard’. 

Interestingly, he discusses how to let go and achieve success with ease rather than pertaining to that uphill slog – sighting French philosophers and celebrities that have cultivated an attitude and ‘Je ne sais quoi’ making success in life look far too easy. So what are the things that can make facing life’s difficulties easier?

Firstly, Pourriol argues that ‘overthinking’ can be the enemy.  He encourages us to tackle difficulties in life using the mental attitude of a tight rope walker.  Thinking and over analysing is not what is needed at every step – it is ‘action’ and preferably ‘action with confidence’. Too much questioning and calculation will bring about doubt which halts all action and advancement. ‘ Life can be explored but not explained.’

Mentally it is important to let go of the fear of doing -thinking about the fear only reinforces the fear. ‘When we are in action we are delivered from fear.’ Forcing oneself causes the body to tense up and this is when energy is lost.

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Key points to remember:

• ‘A relaxed body has more energy than a tense one.’
• ‘You must work in a state of relaxation‘.
• ‘True attention comes from trying not to try’.
• ‘When wanting to complete a task, starting is not something that we have to be scared of. But whatever you choose to do, ‘start with conviction and resolute’. 

Step-by-Step

It is important to only move on to the next step when you feel ready. But what if we start to get lost in what we do?  Pourriol sites the Philosopher Stendhal who claimed ‘you’re really not lost when you don’t know where you are, but when you don’t know what to do next. 

Pourriol looks to a professional sportsman for inspiration on this point.  According to famous French Tennis Player Yannick Noah, the slogan here should be ‘Don’t try to force it’  He talks about  ‘easing up’. French footballer Zidane is sighted as claiming to have scored his finest goal in the European cup ‘without thinking.’  He let his body do the thinking. 

The correlation between mind and body is tackled as the book talks about the importance of  ‘relaxation in the body – that allows ‘thinking through the body.’ Concentration on breath work and meditation are important regular exercises we should all practice.

‘Our bodies work on rhythms like the waves in the sea’ Pourriol claims. ‘Relaxation is not the opposite of action, it is the preparation for action. It allows energy to build and circulate.’ To do things well we must do it with grace, we would more commonly say get into ‘the zone’ which requires the need to relax and not fret over a difficulty.

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Think about the last time you were in the zone, What were you doing in the lead up to getting there? Try to recreate the situations, surroundings and actions as we all have our own methods of controlling our energy. Some like to work to music, others need complete silence. The philosopher Sartre wrote all of his books in the Café de Flore in Paris where there was a lot of noise and chaos which is what he needed to distract his questioning mind and write his most famous books.

As humans, Pourriol argues that our attention span is narrow. ‘We cannot absorb many things at once nor understand them quickly. The attention is not very long.’ It is therefore important to rest and relax in between concentration. ‘We should understand that learning and achieving should not be a chore.’Getting to know yourself well enough to know how long you can concentrate is key. Recognising when and what relaxes you must follow so recharging is encouraged.

Indeed a tight rope walker will give his focus to every step, but will not move on until he feels balanced. He is focused on his body, not the consequences of falling. He must look ahead with conviction and be in that graceful zone in order to make it look easy.

Important Rules

1. Attention cannot shine on many objects at the same time. We should therefore only focus on one point at a time.
2. Divide up the difficulties of a problem and think of one at a time.  Don’t try to grasp everything at once. Don’t try to rush, one step at a time. You need to take things in stages. Cut up a task into smaller pieces. 
3. Put the stages in order. Start with the easiest task and then the next easiest and so on.
4. Enumerate – name the stages and then take a panoramic overview. Keep sight of the big picture, don’t get lost in too much detail at each stage. This makes it easier to check that you have not left any part that is important out. So regularly widen your view to check that everything is included. 

Not trying too hard and working smarter is also about entering into action at a strategic point of ease to have maximum gain for the least effort. To peel fruit effectively, he argues, one must wait for the fruit to be ripe, to feel when this is the case and insert the knife at a strategic point that allows the skin to be best separated most effectively. Hacking away at unripened fruit is not smart and of course, the fruit cannot be uncut.

Pourriol also talks of ‘letting the pan soak’ to make the job easier and hence less energy is expended. Equally, however, he says one may want to do the dishes sooner if there is fat on them and again this judgment to act quicker will make the job easier.

There is a need to use your ‘instinct and judgment’. Charging in and simply doing things over and over again to achieve is not smart living.  Weighing up timing and effort is therefore key and so the trusting instinct is important. Allowing your body and mind to rest when it needs to, is essential to feeling instinctive. Not trying too hard is about finding a simpler and more effective approach. A more elegant approach that may require trusting yourself, your body and its natural rhythms.

Author: Vicky Hatia