Wu Wei: How to Accomplish More By Doing Less

In 1960, Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax was ready to call it quits.

Despite having impressive power, he never seemed to be able to control his throws, and regularly walked more batters than he struck out.

His career was going nowhere.

He told himself he’d give it one more try at Spring Training the next year, and if it didn’t work, he’d give up baseball.

In 1961, Koufax was pitching an exhibition game in Orlando, and he had loaded the bases without throwing a strike.

Catcher Norm Sherry went out to the mound and told Koufax to lay off it a little.

“Don’t try to throw it so hard. Just put it in there and let them hit it.”

And so he did. 

What happened next was remarkable.

Not only did he gain control, he actually started throwing harder, and struck out the side.

Trotting off the field, amazed, Sherry said, “Sandy, I don’t know if you realize it, but you just now threw harder than when you were trying to.” 

Koufax had changed his approach, and became one of the most dominant pitchers in the history of baseball.

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In Chinese tradition, there is a concept called ‘Wu Wei’.

It is often translated as ‘Not Acting or ‘Not Doing’, but it is best understood as ‘Not Forcing’.

We may have a good end in mind, but if we try to force it to accomplish it, we will undermine our efforts.

We see it plainly in sports, as with throwing a baseball or with swimming—when you go with the flow, it is much easier and you are more powerful as a result.

It is also seen elsewhere in life.

We assume being busy or getting little sleep is a sign of being productive.

In reality, it is a sign of going against the flow—forcing it.

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Koufax had some of the best raw talent of anybody in baseball.

But he was undermining it by forcing it.

Sherry said later, “When you try to overdo something, you do less. Just like guys who swing so hard, they can’t hit the ball.”

There is a current, a flow to our environment. Only when we go with it can we be most successful.

“There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” —Brutus, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.