Does Trying Harder Always Produce Better Results?

We believe trying harder always produces better results. In other words, we believe there is a direct relationship between effort and performance. That relationship is shown in Figure 3.1.

When this is your belief and your performance is less than you desire, the logical solution is to try harder. As someone who has made as well as witnessed numerous six-figure and seven-figure sales presentations, I can attest to the fact that trying too hard rarely produces the results you’re looking for. On the contrary, when you tell yourself things like, “I need this sale,” “I must be better than I’ve ever been,” and “I’m going to try something new to blow their socks off,” you try harder, put more pressure on yourself, and often reek of desperation. People don’t buy from people who appear desperate.

While our culture may scream at you to try harder when you find yourself in a tough spot, the data on human performance simply doesn’t support this belief. In fact, the data shows throttling back a little bit often results in better performance.

Speaking of data, Rick and the other coaches and management of the Oakland A’s teams of the early 2000s borrowed a mantra from renowned statistician and management scientist W. Edwards Deming:

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In God we trust. All others must bring data.

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In the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Michael Lewis brilliantly documents how Oakland’s management refused to trust their gut or accept baseball’s long-held beliefs. Rather, when it came to making decisions, they relied on data. Let’s do the same as we challenge some of our beliefs that limit our ability to perform our best.

Consider a different belief that rethinks the relationship between effort and performance. Let’s start with the conclusion from psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson more than a century ago. Yerkes and Dodson found there is an optimal level of arousal for performance.

The Yerkes–Dodson law states that increased arousal can help performance, but only up to a certain point (see Figure 3.2). Beyond that, arousal becomes excessive and performance declines. In other words, too little arousal prompts boredom or diminished interest in the performer. Too much arousal creates a feeling of anxiety or threat in the performer.

Consider what happens when you’re asked to take an exam. It’s helpful to have some level of arousal to help you focus on the exam and remember the information you studied. However, when arousal goes too high, it turns into anxiety. This form of a threat impairs your ability to concentrate and makes it more difficult to remember the correct answers.

It’s worth noting that those who have conducted follow-up research on the Yerkes–Dodson law have found that the optimal level of arousal varies by task. When the task is a more complex cognitive task (e.g., making a presentation to secure funding), optimal performance results from lower levels of arousal. When the task doesn’t require as much thinking (e.g., rushing the quarterback in football), optimal performance results from higher levels of arousal. Optimal arousal level also varies by person.

So now that we understand more about the relationship between arousal and performance, what’s the relationship between arousal and effort? The answer to this question will give us insight into the relationship between effort and performance.

Our effort level is often directly correlated with our arousal level. When we try harder and give more effort, our arousal increases. Then it stands to reason that, just as Yerkes–Dodson shows how anxiety increases and performance declines past a certain level of arousal, our performance declines past a certain level of effort. As a result, in Figure 3.3, we can see a graph similar to the shape of Yerkes–Dodson if we replace arousal with effort.

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There is a huge gap between trying your best and doing your best.

Is Nike’s slogan “Just Try It!”? No, it’s “Just Do It!”

—Rick Peterson

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So now that you know about this relationship between arousal, effort, and performance, this should raise a question for you when your performance is less than what you’re capable of. Which side of the curve are you on? Are you on the left where you have low arousal and are not trying hard enough? If yes, some additional effort will improve your performance. However, when you’re under pressure, more than likely your arousal and effort are too high, causing your performance to suffer. When this is the case, the answer is to Try Easy!