What does it mean that I have two copies of this book and that one is dog eared and highlighted every other page?

Perhaps one of the first books on Type I and Type II thinking, ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ is a quick but fascinating read on a tennis player turned academic turned coach that discovered the importance of the inner self to success. Gallwey calls the two frames of mind Self 1 and Self 2 - Self 1 being the logic mind that tends to overthink and make adjustments to your tennis swing worse, and Self 2 which is the ‘doer’ that unconsciously knows what to do when hitting a ball, it feels it. Strikingly similar to Daniel Kahneman’s psychology of Type I and Type II thinking, it offers insights into a tennis player’s natural awareness of this thinking, and the difference between them.

A good read.

Woow. Incredible book. It breaks down our selves into two. Self 1 - your analytic side, always judging and caring about what other people think and Self 2, your feeling and doing side. So basically, Self 2 can master everything if Self 1 doesn't interfere. In order to achieve it, you have to learn how to quite your Self 1. The book gives some strategies about how to focus in important moments and also a great perspective about winning and losing.

Прекрасное пособие по ментальной стороне любого спорта высоких достижений и раскрытию своего потенциала, которое практически применимо и крайне полезно почти для любой сферы жизни человека, которая связана с обучением или другой осознанной деятельностью. Сегодня о темах, которые затронуты в книге очень много сказано и написано много великолепных книг: от "Потока" М. Чиксентмихайи до "Максимальной концентрации" Палладино. Однако, читая работу Тимоти Голви, написанную им в 1974 сугубо на основе своего тренерского опыта, понимаешь, что за 40 лет ничего нового с практической точки зрения в этой сфере почти не сказано. в Inner Game of tennis дано все, причем, что особенно ценю, дано кратко, ёмко и точно.

В книге говорится о том, что во время любой игры человек помимо внешней игры с противником за очки играет во внутреннюю игру с самим собой. "Эта игра протекает в уме игрока, именно она позволяет восстанавливать концентрацию, уходить от нервозности, создавать готовность к игре и уверенность в своих силах. Внутренняя игра направлена на то, чтобы справится с привычками ума, препятствующими достижению совершенства."

Как идеальное состояние внутреннего игрока автор приводит состояние детской непосредственности, когда ребенок учится, например, ходить и он полностью погружен в процесс, ориентируется на свою интуиции и свой опыт. Он называет это естественным обучением. "Когда это происходит на теннисном корте, мы сосредоточены, не стараясь сконцентрироваться. Мы чувствуем в себе непринужденность и свободу. У нас есть внутренняя уверенность, что мы можем сделать то, что требуется, и нам не нужно очень стараться. Мы просто знаем, что действие произойдет, и когда оно произойдет, и не склонны ставить себе это в заслугу. Как говорит Сузуки, мы становимся "непосредственными как ребенок."

Чтобы научиться успокаивать свой разум и достигать состояния "естественного обучения" и "непосредственного ребенка" нужно освоить три навыка:
1. Навык некритического осознания, который заключается а умении освободиться от свойственной человеку склонности оценивать себя и свое исполнение как хорошее или плохое. Причем Голви утверждает, что освобождение от оценивания важно в обе стороны, как в плохую, так и в хорошую. Похвалы - это скрытая критика. Мы используем ум, чтобы манипулировать поведением.
2. Доверять интуиции. Здесь все просто, надо слушать себя больше и лучше, доверять своему опыту, а не знаниям. Все ответы у нас уже есть.
3. Научиться концентрации. Осознанное внимание требует дисциплины, решительности и постоянной практики. Обучение концентрации следует начинать с осознания своего тела и дыхания через регулярные практики дыхательных упражнений и медитаций. Результатом надо стремиться достигать состояния полной произвольной фокусированности внимания, или истинная неподвижность, которая есть неподвижность внутри движения.

В последней части книги есть ряд упражнений для теннисистов, которые помогут закрепить данный материал на практике и стать непосредственным и счастливым игроком.

I am good at tennis and life now

By reading the title you'd think it's about tennis, but it only touches it. It talks more about the inner game of *everything*. First, it breaks down the Self into Self 1, which is basically your thinking brain (always analyzing and judging), and Self 2, which is your "feeling and doing" brain. The book gives ample evidence (that's also quite easy to relate to) that Self 2 can master almost everything in a short amount of time, while being "in the flow", if only Self 1 doesn't interfere. Thus, the inner game mostly deals with quieting your thinking brain; there seems to be a bunch of strategies, the simplest one simply being "focusing your attention on something, so your thinking brain is occupied and can't interfere".
Author also gives an interesting perspective on winning, derived from surfers. Surfers want to ride the biggest wave not to beat it, but to prove to themselves they've done their absolute best. Same should be true of any game, and instead of hoping your opponent will make a mistake, you should be hoping they won't, so you'll be faced with the greatest challenge that will allow you to grow the most. If only this book were as easy to apply as it was to read :)

I bought this book twice. If that isn't a testament to its quality I don't know what is.

After I finished listening to the audio book version, I immediately gave amazon my money again in exchange for a physical copy. 'Why?' you ask? Because, quite frankly, it contains so much wisdom that it needs to be absorbed over time, and audio books aren't well suited for that purpose.

'But it's about tennis!' you might quibble, imaginary reader. 'How much wisdom could there possibly be?'

Ah, therein lies the trick! It actually isn't.

This book pretends to be about tennis, but is in reality about something else entirely. It's about connecting with your unconscious. Gallwey names this state of being self two (David Brooks names it Adam Two in the interesting, yet unsatisfactory The Road to Character, and many other thinkers have called it many other things throughout the ages), and uses the medium of tennis as a canvas for his ideas.

I find it incredibly fascinating how confusing these topics can be to the intellectual mind before it finally clicks and everything seems so obvious you cannot fathom how concepts like "letting go" and "non-judgement" didn't really mean anything to you before. This transition unfailingly comes through experience rather than logical reasoning, which I'm betting is the reason why it's so elusive.

I've read read Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Lao Tzu, Frankl, and many less illustrious authors - but it was a book about tennis which finally made me stumble over the edge of understanding. Fancy that. Undoubtably, the mentioned authors pointed out to me that there was an edge in the first place, but I still find it remarkable.

Gallwey, much like Herrigel does in the magnificent Zen in the Art of Archery, discusses the familiar Buddhist concepts of letting go of judgement and negativity and observing thoughts and emotions, but through the lens of sport, which somehow finally made it make sense to me. If you've ever practiced a sport and truly felt 'in the zone' then this experience will be the anchor you need.

I'll be forever grateful for finding this book, and I suspect it'll be on my nightstand for many years to come.

I am an emotional tennisplayer, which I hate! So when I heard about this book I ordered it immediately. I didn't read it all the way through, but when I felt I needed some support I read some chapters. It really helped! Not that I am as cool on the court as I should be, but it did help me set my mind in the right direction... coping with the other me that always gets mad or dissapointed when I don't hit a ball right. Still have ups and downs, but now that I am more selfaware I can control the emotional bursts, as I like to call them, a lot better!

This book is a gem for a sports enthusiast like me.

How often do you admonish yourself while playing?
Every mishit or poor judgment is accompanied by a taunt.
“I am not good enough” or “I should probably never play again” are thoughts we experience during games.

The author talks about how to deal with this negative self chatter. According to him, there are two minds, Self 1 and Self 2.

Self 1 was the name given to the conscious ego-mind which likes to tell Self 2, you and your potential, how to play. Self 1 loves to bully Self 2

It’s funny how well we do in warm-up matches instead of actual ones.
This is because Self 1 doesn’t care about these futile matches and Self 2 is allowed to play freely.

The book is more about mindfulness. Creating peace between Self 1 and Self 2 can yield the best results.

It took me a while to finish this book (have been in a bit of a reading rut lately) but I'm so glad I did. My ex-manager actually gifted this book to me, unaware I had heard about it from another friend a few months prior. For a book written in the 1970s, it is timeless. Reading it feels effortless, easy to accept, and real because the statements in it feel so true. Some of my biggest takeaways
- the concept of self 1 and self 2
- realizing positive reinforcement is just as harmful as negative reinforcement
- bringing focus to breathing, especially in that space/downtime between points where self 1 tries to make a comeback
- experiencing the present and not worrying about the future or the past
- watching the ball (birdie, frisbee, etc.), noticing the sound that it makes, verbalizing the hits, as exercises in focus and concentration
- watching pros and others play to absorb subconsciously, trusting yourself to learn
- the power of visualization and feeling when trying to learn something new
- the power of awareness (of your body, of the movements of the game)
- trying to win the inner game (key word "trying")
- the emphasis on overcoming the greatest obstacle to achieve the greatest awareness of your abilities
- the true frustration is thus not fully realizing our potential, and not the actual score or outcome
- just like the biggest pain is not to get 70% on an exam that I tried my very best in, but to get 99% on a test where the question I got wrong was something I knew the answer to
- true competition is true cooperation, not feeling guilty for exploiting an opponents weak point
- grooves of playing do not need to be removed, but actually overwritten
- like habits, replace old ones with new ones instead of just stopping the old ones
- interpreting any technical instructions in your own way

I found what helped me read this book was to imagine real scenarios in my head to try to apply the concepts more thoroughly. For example, I do not play tennis but I would visualize how I play badminton, and internalize the lessons through that medium. The next time I played I would also try to apply what I read. One thing I instinctively started doing (even before reaching that part of the book) was to let go of negative/positive judgement during a match by focusing on breathing. Even if I still sometimes say "ugh sorry bad shot" or hear "wow great shot" during the game, before I start a new point I would try to let go of those thoughts, breathe, and refocus.

Some quotes that seem really relevant today and/or are just key points:
- “While the demands of work are increasing for most people, so is the threat of losing ones’s work”
- “Information is exploding, and with it the need to know more and stretch our competencies”
- “Winning is overcoming obstacles to reach a goal, but the value in winning is only as great as the value of the goal reached”

This was one of those books that I will never regret reading. The Inner Game of Tennis is well written, engaging, and probably the most practical and applicable book to my own life that I have ever read. I don't even play tennis and this book has helped my mental and physical approach to and performance in sports, namely basketball. I have always hindered my own performance by doing all the wrong things: trying too hard, criticizing myself, always trying to correct things but never actually performing any better. After reading this enlightening and empowering book, I have definitively changed my state of mind.

Gallwey's theory of the two selves and how to master them has taught me both why I judged myself so heavily, and also how to replace this self-destructing behavior with the natural process of learning used by self 2. Gallwey also teaches how to break bad habits. I am looking forward to trying this out on my bad habit of chewing my nails! Not the same as a weak forehand, but it's worth a shot.

Tim Gallwey's non-judgmental view of sport errors and mistakes in general is refreshing, especially to me, a scrutinizing perfectionist. My mom recommended this book to me, and boy has it helped me out! I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, especially fellow athletes. Even if you don't play tennis or even sports in general, this book and its principles of letting go of mistakes and moving forward with knowledge and experience but not self-judgment are wonderfully helpful in this grand game we call life. I hope you read this book too, because it's a game-changer.