According to W. Timothy Gallwey, there are 2 parts in every game of tennis: the outer game and the inner game.
The outer game is played against an external opponent to reach an external goal. Mastering this part includes training to use the racket properly, how to hit the ball, how to position arms and legs and torso, and more.
The inner game is happening inside the mind. And it is played against nervousness, lapses in concentration, self-doubt, and self condemnation, among others.
This book is about the inner game, the mental side of tennis.
The main premise of the book has a similar foundation as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s idea of flow state, where the key to a better inner game of tennis is to improve the relationship between our Self 1 (our conscious self motivator) and Self 2 (our unconscious mind and our natural ability). And the harmony between the two Selfs exists when the mind is quiet and focus.
As Gallwey remarks, “When a tennis player is “in the zone,” he’s not thinking about how, when or even where to hit the ball. He’s not trying to hit the ball, and after the shot he doesn’t think about how badly or how well he made contact. The ball seems to get hit through a process which doesn’t require thought. There may be an awareness of the sight, sound and feel of the ball, and even of the tactical situation, but the player just seems to know without thinking what to do.”
The opposite consequences also applied, however. As Gallwey explains, “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.”
So how do we achieve such effortless unconscious style of playing? First and foremost, by lots of training. This is where the early part of this book focuses on, in providing all the technical stuffs on how to train the outer game of tennis properly.
But crucially, the book then teaches us how to train ourselves to regulate, control, or even ignore the noise in our minds and aim to reach a flow state. This is illustrated through several impactful stories from the tennis world, even Gallwey’s own personal stories.
One story in particular that amuses me is when Gallwey once participated in a tennis tournament during his youth days, where he won a match but feeling miserable and lost the next match but with much more satisfaction. This is because in the first match he constantly battling his Self 1, while in the second match his Self 1 was more inline with his Self 2.
He then proceeded to form a formula that will ensure a winning strategy, but without losing the enjoyment of playing it. A winning strategy that has successfully applied by his tennis students, which is summarized in this compact book written in 1974. The book proceeded to sell over 1 million copies.
And the majority of the lessons are indeed applicable for anything else in other walks of life, which Gallwey then expanded to several other fields like golf, music, self-help, and business where he has consulted for several Fortune 500 companies such as Apple, AT&T and Coca-Cola. Bill Gates is a well-known fan of his, while elite athletes such as Tom Brady and Steve Kerr have been associated with the Inner Game Institute that Gallwey founded.
THE CHAOS THEORY 