The archer’s paradox: Why trying harder makes you perform worse

At 18, one of us—Juan Carlos—arrived at the Spanish indoor archery championship expecting to win. He was shooting better than he ever had. But he was an outsider in the Spanish archery community and was training with unorthodox methods at the time. He and his coach, who came from handball and gymnastics, had been the subject of much criticism. So he competed to prove a point. From the first arrow he tried to achieve perfection. When he didn’t, it rattled him. By the halfway mark he was thinki...