The Inner Game of Tennis

We believe effort scales linearly with results. Try harder, perform better. Simple. Wrong.

Gallwey shows the opposite: clinch and you lose. Tighten the grip of the racquet, make mistakes. The mind judges, then groups the judgments, then identifies with them, then judges itself. You become what you think, which is usually worse than what you are.

The solution isn't more effort. It's less interference. Self 1 is the teller—anxious, controlling, obsessed with proving itself. Self 2 is the doer—competent, instinctive, requiring only trust. Most of us spend our lives letting Self 1 strangle Self 2.

Under pressure, I return to the racquet. By tightening your grip, you guarantee failure. Let go. Trust what you already know. You'll figure it out without the anxiety.

The art of relaxed concentration. Not trying less, but interfering less. Not lowering standards, but releasing the judgment that prevents you from meeting them.

This applies to tennis. It applies to everything.