The striving - non-striving conundrum in sport and the likes

By keeideas on Skatehive

I previously wrote about the 𝗪𝘂-𝘄𝗲𝗶 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲, 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667239121000319 True to the spirit of 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, I didn't make much effort in publicising this work but it naturally garnered some nice attention. For example, it was featured in 𝗣𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 https://www.psychologytoday.com/sg/blog/the-athletes-way/202201/the-wu-wei-paradox-striving-less-generates-more-success . More recently, a reader got in touch to ask me questions that goes right to the heart of effortless peak performance… 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗿𝗲, 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴? At first glance, they seem incompatible. Sport—and performance more broadly—is often framed