A projection satisfying $\| Px \| \leq \|x\|$ for all $x$ is an orthogonal projection [duplicate]

Any linear transformation $V \to V$ is uniquely specified by its restrictions on $W$ and $W^\perp$. Therefore, to establish that $P$ is the orthogonal projection on to $W$, it suffices to check that

  1. $P$ fixes all vectors in its range $W$; i.e., $Px = x$ for all $x \in W$.

  2. $P$ kills all vectors in $W^\perp$; i.e., $Px = 0$ for all $x \in W^\perp$.

Now (1.) is a general fact about any projection map. The proof is easy and I will skip it here, focusing on showing (2.) in complete detail.

Fix $x \in V$ and let $\lambda \in \mathbb R$ be arbitrary. Observe that $P(x + \lambda Px) = (1+\lambda) Px$. Therefore, applying the given hypothesis on $x + \lambda Px$, we get $\| x + \lambda Px \|^2 \geqslant (1+\lambda)^2 \| P x \|^2$. Expanding out both sides and cancelling one term, we get $$ \| x \|^2 + 2\lambda \langle x, Px \rangle \geqslant \| P x \|^2 + 2 \lambda \| P x \ \|^2 . \tag{$\dagger$}$$ Since $\lambda$ is a free variable, $(\dagger)$ will hold for all $\lambda \in \mathbb R$ if and only if $$ \begin{cases} \| x\|^2 &\geqslant& \|Px\|^2, \\ \langle x, Px \rangle &=& \| Px \|^2. \end{cases} $$ We are interested in the second conclusion $\| Px \|^2 = \langle x, Px \rangle$; notice that we have an exact equality here, not an inequality.

Finally, if $x \in W^\perp$, we have $\| Px \|^2 = 0$ since $x$ is orthogonal to $Px \in W$. This implies that $Px = 0$ for all $x \in W^\perp$, and we are done.