4,5* a bit shy of 5 because the ideas from the book are long known but at the time this book had to be the thing!

Honestly this is one of the best book I've ever read, it really spoke to me on so many different levels. If you've played any sports or games you know what it feels like to be In The Zone, everything is flowing and you play the best you've ever played. This state is familiar to most of us but what is preventing us from being in the zone every game? Well, this book addresses that exact issue and I found it extremely valuable to help me reach a new level for my gym workouts. One other thing I really like about this book is that it speaks about the importance of natural effortless learning which is so much powerful than consciously trying to learn a new skill. Definitely check out this book, it's loaded with value.

Preface: I am not a tennis player. However, I am an ultimate Frisbee player/athlete and a lot of what Timothy talked about (perfecting your "Inner Game" via mental acuity & awareness) can be readily applied to any non-contact/competitive sport- especially ultimate Frisbee which is very much a thinking/mental game after you've mastered the basic skills. My friend, and some would say "coach," gave this to me to read- believing that it would help me get over a few things that I have been struggling with since he read it years ago when he was just getting into the sport himself. The topics of the 2 "self"s, focus, competition, and the pure "getting over yourself" aspect was extremely helpful. I wish I could say that it should be obvious, but he states it as a fact to be learned and not just a priori. There were sections that applied directly to tennis, which I glazed over. I wish he made this just a generic book about how to improve your game- in any sport. Written in the 70's, you can read this short guide in an hour or so and the topics covered in this book are perfect for someone to overcome self-doubt, nervousness & breaks in concentration that really mess up your mental game which is, really, your entire game.

This book is one of the most important books out there for overcoming our own mental barriers to any activity. It was actually recommended to me by my oboe teacher, but has also been brought up by shooting coaches and, yes, tennis coaches. Definitely worth a read to get great ideas on how to trust your subconscious and overcome your own tendencies to over-think performance - and thereby not perform as well as you can. Highly recommend - for everyone, not just tennis players!

If you want to understand how to better focus and get in a mental state to excel your performance, this is a great book for that.

Definitely a worthwhile read for the athlete and non-athlete alike (but especially for the athlete). Some amazing insights given that this book preceded all of the empirical work within the field of psychology concerning the dual role of the conscious vs. unconscious mind in shaping behavior. The most difficult part is figuring out how to institute some of the suggestions in specific situations (especially in other sports). Most of the examples are of course heavily dependent on the tennis medium, but there is no reason they couldn’t be adapted for other sports. The focal point to always keep in mind is that the unconscious mind is especially well-suited for processing tremendous amounts of information at once, which is exactly what training muscles to coordinate into complex motions requires. Most of the techniques Gallwey describes are simply ways to get your conscious mind out of the way so you can let the correct motor learning system take over. Not a difficult book to understand, but nearly impossible for many athletes to actually enact. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever struggled to experience the true joy that comes with playing sports.

Я с большим скепсисом отношусь к американскому селф-хелпу, и честно приготовилась перечитывать одну и ту же фразу с разной расстановкой слов на каждой из 100+ страниц, но охрана отмена.

Если начать с начала, то эту книгу прочесть мне поручила ортофонистка, с которой я работаю над произношением. Казалось бы, при чем здесь теннис к моему акценту? На самом деле теннис здесь ничто иное как контекст, такая себе декорация, которую можно заменить чем угодно - любым видом спорта или же каким-либо процессом, включающим в себя обучение.

Во "Внутренней игре" без воды объясняется о ментальном настрое, с которым получится веселее и эффективнее освоить нужный навык, и описанные в ней тезисы очень перекликаются с техниками как самосострадания, так и медитации (?). Будь добрее к себе, помни о своей истинной цели, дай себе время, не ругай и не захваливай себя, обучайся играть в теннис (или нужное вставить) так же, как ребенок, который учится ходить - наблюдая и повторяя увиденное. Это максимально сжатые идеи изложенные во "Внутренней игре". Даже не верится, что книга с таким добрым посылом была написана в годы, когда достигаторство было единственной религией.

Словом, я приятно удивлена. Хотя, согласно поднимаемым в книге тезисам, мне и занятия по устранению акцента, оказывается, не нужны.

I had heard about this book while listening to an NBA podcast and the idea of it really intrigued me. The idea is that the body already knows how to succeed at whatever you want it to - this book uses tennis as an example - you just have to be able to quiet the mind enough to let your body do the work, which is the difficult part. And although the title suggests the book is about tennis, it really isn’t.

I really enjoyed this book, and I think there are many parts of this book that can be translated to other aspects of life that are not tennis/sports.

I’ll finish with a quote from the book that I thought was incredible:
“If the individual receives no satisfaction from his work for its own sake, he dies internally, a condition which no financial reward can justly compensate”

Ideias muito semelhantes ao think fast and think slow do Dani kahneman, o que muito curioso dadas as datas de edição de cada livro

This book is a classic -- if you play tennis it's a must read. The author is a renowned sports and life coach who became famous with this book, in a large part because Harry Reasoner thought the principles in it couldn't possible work and challenged to author to prove them. He did, and it changed the reporters mind, and the way many of us look at how we play sports and also how we live.

It's primary thrust is to help the reader learn to apply some basic principle of non-judgment and focus to their tennis game, and watch the rest just fall in line. It works!

This book was recommended to me by an acting teacher to read as an acting book. It indeed includes significant applicable insight on acting, but it’s buried beneath heaps of extremely specific tennis terminology and history that are tedious and at times boring to sift through, especially as a non-player. I understand that there is an Inner Game of Music book, and I wonder if an Inner Game of Acting book might be interesting. I think the concept of the “Inner Game” is deeply applicable to acting; perhaps even more so without frequent mention of the firmness and looseness of your pro’s backhand.

Quotes:

Images are better than words, showing better than telling, too much instruction worse than none, and… trying often produces negative results.

The “hot streak” usually continues until he starts thinking about it and tries to maintain it; as soon as he attempts to exercise control, he loses it.

The first skill to learn is the art of letting go the human inclination to judge ourselves and our performance as either good or bad.

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.

Slumps are part of the process. They are not “bad” events, but they seem to endure endlessly as long as we call them bad and identify with them.

The first step is to see your strokes as they are. They must be perceived clearly. This can be done only when personal judgment is absent.

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.

Acknowledgment of one’s own or another’s strengths, efforts, accomplishments, etc., can facilitate natural learning, whereas judgments interfere.

Often when we are rallying we trust our bodies and let it happen because the ego-mind tells itself that it doesn’t really count.

To Self 2, a picture is worth a thousand words. It learns by watching the actions of others, as well as by performing actions itself.

Getting the clearest possible image of your desired outcomes is a most useful method for communicating with Self 2, especially when playing a match.

Having provided yourself with an image and a feeling, you are ready to hit some balls. Now focus your eyes and mind on the seams of the ball and let it happen. Then observe what happened. Once again, don’t analyze; simply see how close Self 2 came to doing what you wanted it to.

Letting go of judgments, the art of creating images and “letting it happen” are three of the basic skills involved in the Inner Game.

Step 1: Nonjudgmental Observation
Step 2: Picture the Desired Outcome
Step 3: Trust Self 2
Step 4: Nonjudgmental Observation of Change and Results

To still the mind one must learn to put it somewhere. It cannot just be let go; it must be focused.

To the extent that the mind is preoccupied with the seams, it tends not to interfere with the natural movements of the body.

Say the word bounce out loud the instant you see the ball hit the court and the word hit the instant the ball makes contact with the racket—either racket.

Focus is not achieved by staring hard at something. It is not trying to force focus, nor does it mean thinking hard about something. Natural focus occurs when the mind is interested. When this occurs, the mind is drawn irresistibly toward the object (or subject) of interest. It is effortless and relaxed, not tense and overly controlled. When watching the tennis ball, allow yourself to fall into focus. If your eyes are squinting or straining, you are trying too hard. If you find yourself chastising yourself for losing focus, then you may be overcontrolling. Let the ball attract your mind, and both it and your muscles will stay appropriately relaxed.

Some players find the sound of the ball more mind-absorbing than watching the seams because it is something they’ve never done before.

Remember: it is almost impossible to feel or see anything well if you are thinking about how you should be moving. Forget should’s and experience is.

So after a point has ended and I’m returning to position or going to pick up a ball, I place my mind on my breathing.

Most of our suffering takes place when we allow our minds to imagine the future or mull over the past. Nonetheless, few people are ever satisfied with what is before them at the moment.

What I really wanted, I realized, was to overcome the nervousness that was preventing me from playing my best and enjoying myself. I wanted to overcome the inner obstacle that had plagued me for so much of my life. I wanted to win the inner game.

Winning is overcoming obstacles to reach a goal, but the value in winning is only as great as the value of the goal reached. Reaching the goal itself may not be as valuable as the experience that can come in making a supreme effort to overcome the obstacles involved. The process can be more rewarding than the victory itself.

In tennis who is it that provides a person with the obstacles he needs in order to experience his highest limits? His opponent, of course! Then is your opponent a friend or an enemy?

It isn't the other person we are defeating; it is simply a matter of overcoming the obstacles he presents. In true competition no person is defeated. Both players benefit by their efforts to overcome the obstacles presented by the other.

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.

For the player of the Inner Game, it is the moment-by-moment effort to let go and to stay centered in the here-and-now action which offers the real winning and losing, and this game never ends.

As tennis players we tend to think too much before and during our shots; we try too hard to control our movements; and we are too concerned about the results of our actions and how they might reflect on our self-image. In short, we worry too much and don’t concentrate very well.

The longer I live, the greater my appreciation of the gift that life itself is. This gift is much greater than I could have imagined, and therefore time spent living it in a state of stress means I am missing a lot — on or off the court.

Freedom from stress does not necessarily involve giving up anything, but rather being able to let go of anything, when necessary, and know that one will still be all right. It comes from being more independent—not necessarily more solitary, but more reliant on one’s own inner resources for stability.