The Inner Game of Tennis

Timothy Gallwey

📚 GENRE: Personal Development

📃 PAGES: 122

✅ COMPLETED: April 24, 2024

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

Timothy Gallwey uses the game of tennis to explain what it takes to command the mental side of peak performance. In The Inner Game of Tennis, Gallwey explains how the mind can interfere with performance and how to tame it.

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Don’t Try So Hard — One of the keys to strong performance is to let go and allow your mind and body to do what they already know how to do. Performance suffers when we’re trying to think through and control every step of a process. The idea here is to not try so hard. When we try too hard and care too much, we become way too rigid, tense, and controlling. Public speaking provides a good example. You hinder your performance when you try to memorize and recite every word of the presentation. You become way too mechanical. You have to let go and allow yourself to do the job. When you want something really bad, it actually adds a lot of pressure and can lead to poor execution. 

2️⃣ Detach From Outcomes — When your self-image and sense of value in this world are attached to outcomes and results, you are destined for disaster. You can’t help but try too hard and feel a lot of pressure when your sense of worth is tied to a winning or losing result. Unfortunately, our culture promotes this line of thinking. Learn to detach from outcomes. Focus instead on your effort. Results are partly out of your control, but your effort is always in your control. When your entire sense of self isn’t invested in outcomes and results, you are much more relaxed and experience a lot less pressure and anxiety about everything. 

3️⃣ Practice Mindfulness — It’s one thing to recognize that thinking interferes with performance, but it’s another to actually understand how to quiet the mind. Focusing the mind is one of most important takeaways from the book, and Gallwey’s suggested techniques involve mindfulness, which is the practice of using your senses to keep yourself in the present moment. When your mind is focused on the present moment, you can’t simultaneously generate anxiety-provoking thoughts about outcomes and results, the past, the future, or the contents of other people’s thinking. Use your breath, inner body, and senses to focus your mind, and gently bring your attention back whenever you start to wander. Practice can be done anytime and anywhere. Practice as much as possible. 

Favorite Quote

“The difference between being concerned about winning and being concerned about making the effort to win may seem subtle, but in effect there is a great difference. When I'm concerned only about winning, I'm caring about something that I can't wholly control. Whether I win or lose the external game is a result of my opponent's skill and effort as well as my own. When one is emotionally attached to results that he can't control, he tends to become anxious and then try too hard. But one can control the effort he puts into winning. One can always do the best he can at any given moment. Since it is impossible to feel anxiety about an event that one can control, the mere awareness that you are using maximum effort to win each point will carry you past the problem of anxiety.”

Book Notes 📑

Introduction

  • About the Author — Timothy Gallwey is an author who has written a series of books he calls “The Inner Game” in which he has set forth a methodology for coaching and for the development of personal and professional excellence in a variety of fields. Gallwey is a former tennis coach. 
  • About the Book — This book is about detaching from the mind in order to enhance performance. Gallwey makes his points using the game of tennis as a backdrop, but the book is really about elevating performance by quieting the conscious mind and loosening up. 
  • Relaxed Concentration — Paradoxically, not trying so hard can unlock peak performance. In the context of tennis, or any other physical sport, we tend to tighten up when we are thinking about every move. If I’m thinking about how to move my racket, where to put my feet, and how to rotate my wrist through the shot, I lose much of the natural fluidity that it takes to hit a tennis shot. In the context of something like a presentation, when we think about every word we want to say before we say it, we get tight and our mind goes blank. When we think too much and try too hard, we get way too tight, and it affects performance. The key is to loosen up and not think. Allow the body and mind the freedom to operate fluidly. Let it happen. 
    • Quote (P. xviii): “The player of the inner game comes to value the art of relaxed concentration above all other skills; he discovers a true basis for self-confidence; and he learns that the secret to winning any game lies in not trying too hard. He aims at the kind of spontaneous performance which occurs only when the mind is calm and seems at one with the body, which finds its own surprising ways to surpass its own limits again and again.”

Ch. 1: Reflections On the Mental Side of Tennis

  • Visualize, Don’t Think — Whether in sports or in life in general, it’s more effective to visualize what you want to do, then let the body and mind have the freedom to do it. This approach is better than thinking about every little thing you want to execute. An approach like that is far too rigid and involves way too much thinking. As a result, you will tense up, and your execution will likely be poor. When hitting a forehand in tennis, for example, don’t think about every little thing during the move. Instead, visualize yourself hitting the shot, then allow yourself to mimic your visualization fluidly and without thinking. Again, don’t try so hard. Don’t care so much. Let your body and mind move fluidly.
    • Quote (P. 6): “I was beginning to learn what all good pros and students of tennis must learn: that images are better than words, showing better than telling, too much instruction worse than none, and that trying often produces negative results.”
  • Let Go — Removing your conscious mind from the equation, not trying too hard, and not caring so much are central themes of this book. All three of these actions cause your mind and body to tense up, preventing you from executing a move the way you want to. It’s counterintuitive, but you have to relax and let go. Visualize what you want to accomplish, then allow the body and mind the flexibility to do the job in whatever way is best. Thinking too much produces rigidity and anxiety. An example is a presentation; we try to memorize a script and repeat every word to the audience. This causes us to tense up, and our mind goes blank. We’re too tense and rigid, rather than allowing things to flow naturally.
    • Quote (P. 7): “Athletes in most sports use similar phrases, and the best of them know that their peak performance never comes when they’re thinking about it.”
    • Quote (P. 7): “Clearly, to play unconsciously does not mean to play without consciousness. That would be quite difficult! In fact, someone playing ‘out of his mind’ is more aware of the ball, the court and, when necessary, his opponent. But he is not aware of giving himself a lot of instructions, thinking about how to hit the ball, how to correct past mistakes or how to repeat what he just did. He is conscious, but not thinking, not over-trying.”
    • Quote (P. 8): “Perhaps a better way to describe the player who is ‘unconscious’ is by saying that his mind is so concentrated, so focused, that it is still. It becomes one with what the body is doing, and the unconscious or automatic functions are working without interference from thoughts. The concentrated mind has no room for thinking how well the body is doing, much less of the how-to’s of the doing. When a player is in this state, there is little to interfere with the full expression of his potential to perform, learn and enjoy.”
  • Chapter Takeaway — One of the keys to strong performance is letting go, not trying too hard, and not caring so much. Let go. Visualize what you want to do, then allow your mind and body the freedom to do it in whatever way is best. 

Ch. 2: The Discovery of the Two Selves

  • Self 1 & Self 2 — Self 1 is our conscious thinking voice. It’s the one that over thinks every step of an action, causes us to tense up, then judges our performance. Self 2 is the unconscious central nervous system that is free slowing. It’s the “doing” part of us. It’s the part of us that, if left uninterrupted by Self 1, will execute a move fluidly. Unlocking peak performance requires a mental state that involves the following. Getting good at these will help overcome the disease of “trying too hard.”
    • Visualizing — Learning to get the clearest possible picture of your desired outcomes. See it.
    • Trusting — Learning how to trust Self 2 to perform at its best and learn from both successes and failure. Letting go!
    • Evaluate Without Judgement — Learning to see “nonjudgmentally”; that is, to see what is happening rather than merely noticing how well or how badly it is happening. This is the ability to analyze success and failures without judgement and in a way that allows you to take lessons from each experience. 
  • Chapter Takeaway — Self 1 (our conscious thinking voice) needs to learn to trust Self 2 (our nervous system that executes a move or action). Let go and trust Self 2 to do its job. When Self 1 is over thinking and judging, it leads to pressure, stress, anxiety, and rigidity. When Self 2 is allowed to move freely, we execute an action a lot more naturally. 

Ch. 3: Quieting Self 1

  • Quieting the Mind — One of the keys to strong performance is having the ability to quiet the mind and prevent Self 1 (thinking self) from interfering with Self 2 (the doing self). Having harmony between the two unlocks a steady, nonjudgmental, free flowing state conducive to high performance.
    • Quote (P. 14): “We have arrived at a key point: It is the constant ‘thinking’ activity of Self 1, the ego-mind, which causes interference with the natural capabilities of Self 2. Harmony between the two selves exists when this mind is quiet and focused. Only then can peak performance be reached.”
    • Quote (P. 16): “In short, ‘getting it together’ requires slowing the mind. Quieting the mind means less thinking, calculating, judging, worrying, fearing, hoping, trying, regretting, controlling, jittering or distracting.”
  • No Judgement — The first skill to letting go and quieting the mind is learning to not judge your experience or results as good or bad. Avoid assigning positive or negative labels to your experience and results. When you judge your performance as good or bad, it leads to tightening up and “trying.” See your experiences and results simply for what they are. If there are things that you can do better, then you can work on those, but don’t label yourself in any way. The mind tends to think in generalities, so labeling one bad forehand in tennis as terrible leads you to thinking your forehand is always terrible, and that you’re a terrible tennis player in general. You eventually become what you think. It’s better to simply observe without labeling.
    • Quote (P. 19): “Both mental processes [labeling good or bad] end in further evaluation, which perpetuates the process of thinking and self-conscious performance. As a consequence, the player’s muscles tighten when they need to be loose, strokes become awkward and less fluid, and negative evaluations are likely to continue with growing intensity.”
    • Quote (P. 19): “First the mind judges the event, then groups events, then identifies with the combined event and finally judges itself. . . In short, you start to become what you think.”
    • Quote (P. 20): “Be clear about this: letting go of judgments does not mean ignoring errors. It simply means seeing events as they are and not adding anything to them.”
    • Quote (P. 20): “Judgment begins when the serve is labeled ‘bad’ and causes interference with one’s playing when a reaction of anger, frustration or discouragement follows. If the judgment process could be stopped with the naming of the event as bad, and there were no further ego reactions, then the interference would be minimal. But judgmental labels usually lead to emotional reactions and then to tightness, trying too hard, self-condemnation, etc. This process can be slowed by using descriptive but nonjudgmental words to describe the events you see.”
    • Quote (P. 21): “Judgment results in tightness, and tightness interferes with the fluidity required for accurate and quick movement. Relaxation produces smooth strokes and results from accepting your strokes as they are, even if erratic.”
  • See Things As They Are — Building on the point above, it’s important to see things as they are without labeling or judging. Focus on simply seeing and feeling things for what they are. Rather than looking at things with a judgmental lens, focus on just observing what you see and feel. Problems begin to occur when you apply labels and judgements.
    • Quote (P. 30): “To see your strokes as they are, there is no need to attribute goodness or badness to them. The same goes for the results of your strokes. You can notice exactly how far out a ball lands without labeling it a ‘bad’ event. By ending judgment, you do not avoid seeing what is. Ending judgment means you neither add nor subtract from the facts before your eyes. Things appear as they are — undistorted. In this way, the mind becomes more calm.”
  • Chapter Takeaway — See and feel things for what they are without applying judgements or labels. This is one of the ways you can quiet Self 1 and allow Self 2 to do its thing.

Ch. 4: Trusting Self 2

  • Trust Self 2 — At some point, you have to trust Self 2 to do its thing. It comes down to letting go. Trust your body and mind to do what you’re asking. Letting it happen isn’t about making it happen; it’s about not trying too hard. Trying too hard is what causes tense muscles and awkward movements. Don’t try to control everything — let go and trust. 
  • Don’t Identify — No matter what you’re working on (e.g. a backhand in tennis, your public speaking skills, etc.), it’s important to not identify yourself with what you’re doing. You are bigger than whatever you’re working on. When you start to attach your sense of identity with the thing you’re trying to improve, it can cause you to feel a lot of pressure and experience wild emotional swings. Do not allow your self-image to get wrapped up in what you’re doing. Try to separate yourself from the thing you’re trying to improve; see yourself as a loving mother sees a child. See yourself from an outsider’s perspective.
    • Quote (P. 38): “The trick is not to identify with the backhand. If you view an erratic backhand as a reflection of who you are, you will be upset. But you are not your backhand any more than a parent is his child. If a mother identifies with every fall of her child and takes personal pride in its every success, her self-image will be as unstable as her child’s balance. She finds stability when she realizes that she is not her child, and watches it with love and interest — but as a separate being.”
    • Quote (P. 38): “Remember that you are not your tennis game. You are not your body. Trust the body to learn and to play, as you would trust another person to do a job, and in a short time it will perform beyond your expectations.”
  • Using Mental Images & Feeling — When trying to execute something, first visualize yourself doing it, then do what you’re picturing. Really feel yourself doing it. Think of dancing or the golf swing. Picture it, then do it. And when you do it, give the mind and body the freedom to execute in any way that works best — in other words, let go and don’t try to control things. 
  • Respecting Self 2 — One of the ways you can learn to trust Self 2 (brain, nervous system) is by understanding how truly incredible it is. What the brain and nervous system do on a default basis is breathtaking. Learning to look up to Self 2, rather than criticizing it, is key. Criticizing Self 2 is completely unwarranted.
    • Quote (P. 41): “The other, possibility is to learn to look up to Self 2. This is the attitude of respect based on true recognition of its natural intelligence and capabilities.”
  • Chapter Takeaway — Let go and trust Self 2 to do what you want it to do. Don’t try to control things.

Ch. 5: Discovering Technique

  • Learn by Feel — When learning any kind of movement, it’s important to put a lot of your focus on feel rather than technical instruction. The body and mind learn best by feeling the movement; you become far too rigid when trying to think through every step of the movement. As previous chapters have outlined, allow Self 2 to perform the movement without judgement.
    • Quote (P. 53): “In short, if we let ourselves lose touch with our ability to feel our actions, by relying too heavily on instructions, we can seriously compromise our access to our natural learning processes and our potential to perform.”
  • Chapter Takeaway — Learn by feeling! Focus on the feel of the movement rather than technical instruction. Technical instruction should be used to guide you in the right direction, but the feeling of the movement should be the top priority. 

Ch. 6: Changing Habits

  • More of the Same — More of the same was discussed in this chapter. The premise of this book to allow Self 2 to do its thing without Self 1 stepping in to judge. The key is to not “try” too hard. Picture what you want to do, relax, and trust your mind and body to execute what you’re asking.

Ch. 7: Concentration — Learning to Focus

  • Mindfulness: Focusing the Mind — Much of the book so far has discussed the idea of “letting go and allowing Self 2 to do its thing.” But how do you actually facilitate that process of quieting the mind? The answer is mindfulness. Being able to focus the mind through mindfulness allows you to halt all of the nervous, overthinking thoughts that typically come into the mind. When your mind is too busy focusing on staying in the present, anxiety-provoking thoughts about results, outcomes, “what ifs”, etc. cease.
    • Quote (P. 83): “Nevertheless, I do not believe that ultimately the mind can be controlled by the mere act of letting go — that is, by a simply passive process. To still the mind one must learn to put it somewhere. It cannot just be let go; it must be focused.”
    • Quote (P. 83): “As one achieves focus, the mind quiets. As the mind is kept in the present, it becomes calm. Focus means keeping the mind now and here.”
    • Quote (P. 84): “The focused mind only picks up on those aspects of a situation that are needed to accomplish the task at hand. It is not distracted by other thoughts or external events, it is totally engrossed in whatever is relevant in the here and now.”
  • Mindfulness: Practice, Practice, Practice — The key to mindfulness is practice, and a lot of it. What are some ways to practice mindfulness? Tapping into the senses is one way. Focus your eyes on something in particular (e.g. in tennis, focusing on the seams as the ball is coming in). Try to notice things (e.g. the trajectory at which the ball is coming over the net; verbally saying “bounce” and “hit” each time the ball engages in these actions). Use your ears to listen carefully to things around you, or to other people in conversation via active listening. Feel things (e.g. feel the inner body; become aware of your body, like how your tongue feels in your mouth; where your racket is during a motion; the impact of the ball; the mindfulness of a chiropractor, etc.). Outside of using your senses, you can also focus your attention on your breathing. Feel the breath coming in and out without trying to control it.
    • Quote (P. 85): “Furthermore, the seams are always here and now, and if the mind is on them it is kept from wandering to the past or future.”
    • Quote (P. 86): “It’s hard to be saying ‘bounce-hit’ and at the same time overinstructing yourself, trying too hard or worrying about the score.”
  • Bring Attention Back — Nervousness and anxiety ultimately come from allowing your mind to live in the future and past. Every time you notice your attention slipping away into the future or past, gently bring it back to whatever you’re focusing on. That’s meditation and mindfulness. Practice it as often as possible to quiet and focus the mind. When the mind is focused via mindfulness, it can’t be caught up in anxious and nervous thoughts. Self 2 is allowed to do its thing. Your ego is also minimized.
    • Quote (P. 93): “The greatest lapses in concentration come when we allow our minds to project what is about to happen or to dwell on what has already happened. How easily the mind absorbs itself in the world of ‘what if.’”
    • Quote (P. 93): “It is still focus because it leaves out all that is irrelevant, and illuminates all that is relevant. One thing that can be said about focus is that it is always here and now — that is, in present time and present space.”
    • Quote (P. 94): “Since the mind seems to have a will of its own, how can one learn to keep it in the present? By practice. There is no other way. Every time your mind starts to leak away, simply bring it gently back.”
    • Quote (P. 97): “The second my mind starts wondering about whether I’m going to win or lose the match, I bring it gently back to my breath and relax in its natural and basic motion.”
  • Chapter Takeaway — Letting go and slowing Self 2 to do its thing requires quitting and focusing the mind. The best way to do this is by practicing mindfulness. Use your senses to focus your attention on certain things. In a way, you’re almost distracting your mind so it can’t think about anxiety-provoking thoughts such as outcomes and results. When you notice your mind wander while practicing mindfulness, bring it back. The more you practice, the better you get. 

Ch. 8: Games People Play On the Court

  • Performance Doesn’t Define You — Performance doesn’t define who you are. In our culture, we’ve been brainwashed into believing that our value and worth as a person are tied to whether we win or lose in sports, business, knitting, etc. In reality, that’s not true. There’s a lot more to life than performance. When your identity and sense of self worth become attached to results in competition, you are in trouble. First, it’s not true. Second, it will cause you to put a lot of pressure on yourself. When you put pressure on yourself, you begin to press and try too hard, which hinders your performance. 
    • Quote (P. 108): “What is required to disengage oneself from this trap is a clear knowledge that the value of a human being cannot be measured by performance or by any other arbitrary measurement.”
    • Quote (P. 108): “Similarly, the score of a tennis match may be an indication of how well I performed or how hard I tried, but it does not define me, nor give me cause to consider myself as something more or less than I was before the match.”
    • Quote (P. 103): “It’s difficult to have fun or to achieve concentration when your ego is engaged in what it thinks is a life-and-death struggle. Self 2 will never be allowed to express spontaneity and excellence when Self 1 is playing some heavy ulterior game involving its self-image.”

Ch. 9: The Meaning of Competition

  • Performance & Ego — Building on the bullet above in the previous chapter, you can get into trouble when your self-image and perceived value are tied to your results, whether it be in a business negotiation, tennis match, speech, or anything else. One of the big takeaways from this book is to let go and not try so hard, because trying hard usually leads to tension and bad performance. But that’s easier said than done. One of the keys to not trying too hard is to realize that your value as a person has nothing to do with winning or losing. Life is way bigger than that. When we attach our value and happiness to results, we get into a situation where we try way too hard because we feel that we have to avoid losing at all costs, otherwise our worth diminishes. And on the flip side, when we win, our ego becomes way too big. Either way, basing self-worth on results is not a good way to live. To let go and not try as hard, you have to realize that your value is not based on outcomes.
    • Quote (P. 116): “If I am secretly afraid that playing badly or losing the match may be taken to mean that I am less of a man, naturally I am going to be more upset with myself for missing shots. And, of course, this very uptightness will make it more difficult for me to perform at my highest levels. There would be no problem with competition if one’s self-image were not at stake.”
    • Quote (P. 116): “Each [player] imagines that by beating the other he has in some way established his superiority over him, not just in a game, but as a person. What is seldom recognized is that the need to prove yourself is based on insecurity and self-doubt. Only to the extent that one is unsure about who and what he is does he need to prove himself to himself or to others.”
  • Effort > Results — It’s much better to be focused on effort over results. You can’t always control results. You can try your best for the result you want, but you can’t always guarantee that you’ll get what you’re aiming for. There are too many factors in play that are out of your control. But you can always control effort. This once again comes back to the idea of not attaching your self-image to results and outcomes. Instead, choose to align your self-image with the value you’re putting forth.
    • Quote (P. 122): “The difference between being concerned about winning and being concerned about making the effort to win may seem subtle, but in effect there is a great difference. When I’m concerned only about winning, I’m caring about something that I can’t wholly control. Whether I win or lose the external game is a result of my opponent’s skill and effort as well as my own. When one is emotionally attached to results that he can’t control, he tends to become anxious and then try too hard. But one can control the effort he puts into winning. One can always do the best he can at any given moment. Since it is impossible to feel anxiety about an event that one can control, the mere awareness that you are using maximum effort to win each point will carry you past the problem of anxiety.”
  • Chapter Takeaway — Let go of the ego. Stop attaching your value and self-image to outcomes and results. 

Ch. 10: The Inner Game Off the Court

  • Focus! — Chapter 7’s message about focusing your attention and quieting the mind is the central theme of this book. Practicing mindfulness and focusing the mind on the present moment helps you avoid Self 1’s destructive thoughts, which are usually dwelling on the past or fretting about the future. When you quiet the mind and focus your attention in the present moment, you are better able to “let go” and allow Self 2 to do its thing. 
    • Quote (P. 130): “The message of the Inner Game is simple: focus. Focus of attention in the present moment, the only one you can really live in, is at the heart of this book and at the heart of the art of doing anything well. Focus means not dwelling on the past, either on mistakes or glories; it means not being so caught up in the future, either its fears or its dreams, that my full attention is taken from the present.”
    • Quote (P. 131): “Focusing can be practiced on a tennis court, chopping carrots, in a pressure-packed board meeting or while driving in traffic. It can be practiced when alone or in conversation.”