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 perf...

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, t...

I don't play tennis or really any sport at all, but I picked up this book because it was recommended for everyone. I think I agree that this book is for everyone. There's probably 1/2 of the book that is specifically tennis-focused, but the rest is mindfulness and allowing your body and mind to learn without judgement or commentary. To shut the internal voice and just focus on the task at hand.

ETA: My husband's Goodreads account is inexplicably linked to mine. So when he finishes a book, his review shows up here. I have not read this book but I trust the reviewer. He's pretty keen. ;) His review:An enlightened viewSome simple and profound insights. Practical and theoretical guidance on the power of attention and focus, and the pivotal role these essential skills play in the game of tennis and the game of life. Highly recommend. A swift and engrossing read with lasting value.

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 ti...

I bought this book twice, if that's not a testament to its quality I don't know what is.Immediately after I finished listening to the audio book version I went over to amazon and once more gladly gave them my money in exchange for a physical copy. 'Why?' you ask? Because this is not a book you read once, then forget about. This is a book that needs to be absorbed over time, then put aside while you contemplate its messages and let them grow, before once more picking it back up and solidifying wh...

A fantastic read that's far less about tennis and far more about how to learn any skill or ability. It is remarkably well written; concise and straight to the point, without the filler material you find in most business books; and a useful read for just about everyone.Here are some of the key insights I got:Self1 and Self2- When you're learning something, you typically have an inner voice: you might be telling yourself things like, "keep your eyes on the ball" or "you fool, how did you mess that...

It’s Buddhism, secularized and westernized and applied to sports. Bloody brilliant if you ask me.

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 real...

This book is about relaxed concentration and what it can do for your performance, in anything really. He makes the same distinction between ego & self that a lot of other books do (Power of Now, Second Mountain, How to Change Your Mind), but in contrast spends more time on how the two relate to learning, competing, and winning.I really like how he talks about how competition fits into this framework. I've equated competition with comparison for a long time and the "Meaning of Competition" chapte...

I am a musician, and this was recommended to me by another musician friend. As it turns out, many of my colleagues have read this book, so it seems as though I am the last! 'The Inner Game' has, without a doubt, been one of the most beneficial books I have ever read. Before I had even finished, some of the insights of the book had already begun to change the way that I practice, audition, and perform! I wont say that the author has come up with any ideas or concepts so revolutionary that they ha...

The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Galloway is one of the best book I’ve ever read. Tim wrote this book in 70s and since then this book became classics, it even kicked off new profession - coaching… The key idea of the book is that all of us are perfect from birth to death, so only limitation to achieve full potential are self-limitation we put on ourselves by being judgmental, unfocused and egocentric. Tim illustrates this by saying that in ourselves there are 2 selves: Self 1 - teller, thinker, c...

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...

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 mediu...

I picked up this book since primarily I was interested to learn more about tennis. By reading the title you'd assume that it's purely about tennis, yet tennis is used as an example. This book explains more about the inner game of “everything”.The book breaks down the Self into Self 1, which is basically your thinking brain (judging), and Self 2, which is your "feeling" brain. Author also gives an interesting perspective on winning, derived from surfers. Surfers want to ride the biggest wave not

What a fantastic book. Broadly applicable to life. Some key learnings: - Self 1 is your ego and judgmental self, Self 2 is your innate, child like, unconscious self. Get Self 1 out of the way, and let Self 2 take over- Rather than judging yourself and telling yourself to just do something, instead: 1) observe behavior nonjudgmentally, 2) picture desired outcome, 3) let it happen and trust self 2, 4) nonjudgmentally observe results- There's a variety of games that are played on the court, outside...

Wow, thanks Made You Think podcast. I was so short sight in avoiding this and thinking I needed to focus instead on technique and the physical. This book is life changing, I will be reading and re-audiobooking it soon.

This book could have been a short essay. While I believe in the idea presented there are better books on the same topic such as "Flow". This might have be a popular and original book when it first came out but it is no longer.

“Matt you f****ing suck” is a statement I have made constantly in almost every single endeavor I have ever undertaken. I have always been self-critical to arguably an unhealthy degree for reasons I never really understood. I used to think it was merely imitation of my role models (my dad who I am shockingly similar too makes the same statement a lot, especially while competing). However, after reading Gallwey’s book I realize that it is a much deeper struggle between my ego and my natural abilit...

I generally dislike self-help books, but the Inner Game of Tennis is different. It is concerned as much with philosophy and meditation as it is with tennis, or as it states:All these skills are subsidiary to the master skill, without which nothing of value is ever achieved: the art of relaxed concentration. The Inner Game of Tennis will next explore a way to learn these skills, using tennis as a medium.The book does this quite well, astoundingly so given that it was published about 40 years befo...

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 em...

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!

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.

I don't play tennis. But now I don't have to because I have locked down the inner game.This book isn't really about tennis, it's about wu wei. Flow. The zone. Being "unconscious." It's about silencing the inner critic, detached observation, and naturalism. I read it from the perspective of a musician, although I am not much of one anymore, and felt like there was some great wisdom there.

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.

The first part till 80-90 pages weren't that revealing and interesting as the last part. From 90 to 140 pages. Great book!

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 pl...

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 transl...

Enjoyed it. I realized pretty soon that this isn't a book about tennis at all, instead it's about how to control your mind while doing anything. Turns out, you can't control it. Instead, you let the body dictate and find its natural rhythm. You have two selves, Self 1 and Self 2 (Kahnemann and Tversky anyone?). Self 1 is the intellectual self that tells you, "take a longer backswing!" whereas Self 2 just does. The book veered off from tennis to get into breathing, meditation, concentration, cons...

The core concept Gallwey introduces in The Inner Game of Tennis is that of Self 1 and Self 2.Self 1 is your self-conscious mind (the part of your mind that instructs your body what to do) while Self 2 is your unconscious mind (the part of your mind that simply does the thing).Gallwey teaches how to quiet Self 1 and its frequent self-criticism so that Self 2 can simply perform without Self 1 getting in the way.His advice is written specifically within a tennis context, so it helps if you have som...