But desperate efforts to induce creativity can be self-defeating, in the same way that telling yourself that you must get to sleep is bound to keep you awake.
She has a comic verve that recalls Julie Hagerty and Leslie Mann, yet her tired eyes suggest something more, a woman whose sensitivity and intelligence can be self-defeating.
In her book " The Long Win" , Cath Bishop, a former Olympian turned consultant, describes how a rigid focus on winning can be self-defeating whether you are in a singlet or a suit.