Keith Johnstone in Chapter 4 ("Spontaneity") of Impro for Storytellers tells how people make themselves nervous and unproductive by "trying" too hard:

At school a 'Buddhist' tranquility would have got me smashed on the head, but if I gnawed my pencil and crunched up as if in agony, my teachers would perceive me as 'trying' and would either write the answer for me or veer off and torment someone else. This strategy kept me safe, but it didn't teach me anything, and it carried the risk that 'thinking' might become a 'forced activity', never again to be experienced as effortless.

...

' "Trying harder" can't make you spontaneous; it's like trying to slam a revolving door!'

(cf. Unselfing (2009-01-14), ...) - ^z - 2013-05-08