Book 8 — A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title — Get Out of Your Own Way!

Book — The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by Tim Gallwey

Book Description — The Inner Game of Tennis is a revolutionary program for overcoming the self-doubt, nervousness, and lapses of concentration that can keep a player from winning.

Reflection:

I LOVE TENNIS, and that is no secret to anyone that knows me.

It is my lifelong obsession and release from the daily grind of this world. I don’t know that I’m more happy anywhere on this planet than on a tennis court for 3 hours hitting away at ball after ball after ball. I’m literally in my own little world and nothing else exists. I don’t worry about the news, check my phone, social media, think about work tasks, etc. I’m just doing what I love and my mind is immersed in the activity.

The irony of all of this is that while I truly love the game and all the positives on how it makes me feel, often times if you see me on a tennis court I may be angrily yelling at myself if I make a mistake. While I may say that this game is something I love, you probably wouldn’t believe it if you saw me in action.

As I read Tim Gallway’s book, The Inner Game of Tennis, he eloquently broke down why we do this and how to overcome. Learning this was a game changer for me in my tennis game and in my life (if I’m being honest).

Our bodies are incredible, we can do some insanely complicated things. Just the idea that I can run around a court, with an object in my hand, and hit 100 mph+ shots with pinpoint accuracy is unreal to think about. All the complexity and coordination that goes into making that happen is almost unfathomable to my brain. There is NO WAY that I could ever rationally (using my system 2 brain that we’ll talk about later from Thinking Fast and Slow) think my way through how to train my body to do all of this.

Yet…that is what we do time and time again. We put our rational hat on and yell at ourself to swing better, move faster, hit with more spin, etc.

We think we can think or way through improving and fixing what is broken. The truth is we can’t, but that doesn’t stop us all from trying. Constantly trying to think about all these variables in real time ultimately sends us in the exact wrong direction. The real key is to get your rational mind out of the equation and let our amazing bodies do their job. Gallway recommends taking a step back, zoom out as if you were looking down on yourself from above, visualize what you want your body to do, and then let it go do its job and have faith. This works so well on a tennis court and in life as well.

Visualize what you want and get out of the way to let our bodies execute. In essence, get yourself out of the way of…yourself! Only then will you start to see the improvements you seek.

Question: What would happen if you got out of your own way?

Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion — The Inner Game of Tennis

YOML Bookstore — The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey