— The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance
Notes
Outline
Be Non-Judgemental
Modes of Thinking/Learning
- contrived
- verbal (which can only represent actions)
- trying hard
- can explain in great detail but have trouble doing it
- seek approval (ego gratification), avoids criticism
- taking credit, self-congratulations
- instinctual
- effortless
- more awareness
- naturally occurring
- self-correcting
- immersed in flow
- integrated, egoless
- spontaneous & creative
- “thinks” they don’t know how
- free of self-criticisms, fears…
- contentment, harmony, peace
- reward inherent in the action
Examples: Non-verbal
- Errors in playing corrected themselves without being mentioned
- Verbal instructions decreased performance
- The elements they tried to do were the very ones they didn’t do
Mindsets of Perception
- judgmental (should)
- judges as good or bad
- fear & doubt impedes learning
- generalization
- becomes self-fulfilling prophesy
- observant (is)
- increased awareness
- not ignoring facts: seeing events undistorted & not adding anything
- not trying to change, improvements happen on its own
- natural learning: faster, with no one there to take credit
Quote: Non-judgmental Seeing
When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as “rootless and stemless.” We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed. When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don’t condemn it as immature and underdeveloped; nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development. The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.
Positive Thinking?
- standard of good & bad
- expectation
- compliments = potential criticisms & in disguise to manipulate behavior
- engages ego mind
- positive & negative evaluations are relative to each other & both judgmental
Self-Improvement?
- implying the current self is incapable/insufficient…
- actions can improve, but your essential/natural/creative self is full, intact, and enough (though doesn’t have to be perfect either)
LET it Happen
Letting Your Goals be Reached
- VS making it happen
- not expecting perfection
- trusting your body
- give encouragement (not compliments!!)
- detached from self-identity
- How to LET it happen
- Ask for results
- visualizing clear “feelmages” of the results desired
- let it happen
- objective interest VS emotional reaction
- Ask for qualities
- role-playing facial expression, posture, mindset & ignore results
- forgetting themselves to be more aware of the range of true capabilities
- break habitual patterns = call upon any qualities
- Ask for results
New VS Old Habits
- old habits = mental grooves don’t disappear
- fighting them = put you deeper into the trench
- start new habits = childlike disregard for imagined difficulties
Focus Activates the Mind
Relaxed concentration
- quieting the judgmental mind + focusing the observant mind: actively keeping it here & now
- preoccupation with present events = forget to try too hard
- not assuming you already know = interested = drawn irresistibly towards it
Quote: Focus on the now
The message of the Inner Game is simple: focus. Focus of attention in the present moment, the only one you can really live in, is at the heart of this book and at the heart of the art of doing anything well. Focus means not dwelling on the past, either on mistakes or glories; it means not being so caught up in the future, either its fears or its dreams, that my full attention is taken from the present.
The Theory of Concentration
- consciousness = knowing & experiencing
- attention = controlled consciousness
- focused attention = your choice reality to know & experience
Quote: Living Here & Now
It is perplexing to wonder why we ever leave the here and now. Here and now are the only place and time when one ever enjoys himself or accomplishes anything. Most of our suffering takes place when we allow our minds to imagine the future or mull over the past. Nonetheless, few people are ever satisfied with what is before them at the moment. Our desire that things be different from what they are pulls our minds into an unreal world, and consequently we are less able to appreciate what the present has to offer.
Quote: Cherish Every Moment
The longer I live, the greater my appreciation of the gift that life itself is. This gift is much greater than I could have imagined, and therefore time spent living it in a state of stress means I am missing a lot.
What & How to “Win”
The Game of Life
- achievement-oriented mindset: live to be perfect/winning/better/attractive/pleasant/not alone
- measurable success - worthy of love, respect, self-worth - compulsion to succeed - true measureless individual value neglected - not discover the love & self-respect they believed would come
- result: winners requires losers
- losing = many who feel a lack of love, respect, self-worth
- winning = at the expense of making others less worthy - needless guilt
- solutions
- no measurements
- measurable achievements doesn’t measure value
- rebellious mindset: quitting
- suffer under pressure - fear of not measuring up - seek failure by not trying - doesn’t really count
- same logic as above: failure tied to self-worth
- self-oriented mindset: live to experience/evolve/enjoy
- overcome inner obstacles preventing you from doing your best & enjoying yourself
- regardless of results of the external game
The Value of Competition
- competition provides obstacles (could also be self, nature, chance…)
- obstacles draw from challengers their greatest effort, discover full capacity, extend true potential
- value of winning:
- having a will to win
- making supreme effort
- overcoming challenges
- exploring latent capacities
- increasing self-knowledge
- not in itself (win/lose oriented = guilt/self-worth)
- opponent = competition(enemy role) is a form of cooperation(true friend)
- both benefit from obstacles presented by the other & participates in the others’ development
- no person is defeated/wins, only overcoming obstacles presented
- not the need to prove external superiority to self/others (insecurity & self-doubt)
Paradox of the Will to Win
- emotionally attached to results (can’t control) - fear, anxiety, forced - bad performance
- surrender control of the results - nothing to lose - wanting to be absorbed in effort (can control) - letting go to release true energy - max performance
Example: Running in snow
- car accident in snow
- grew fatigued through running
- aware of the possibility of death and surrendered
- became absorbed in the surrounding beauty and ran naturally for much longer
- “Apparently, letting go of my grip on life released an energy that paradoxically made it possible for me to run with utter abandon toward life.”
Select Quotes
Introduction
The player of the inner game comes to value the art of relaxed concentration above all other skills;
while overcoming the common hang-ups of competition, the player of the inner game uncovers a will to win which unlocks all his energy and which is never discouraged by losing.
Chapter One - Reflections On The Mental Side Of Tennis
To my surprise, errors that I saw but didn’t mention were correcting themselves without the student ever knowing he had made them. How were the changes happening? Though I found this interesting, it was a little hard on my ego, which didn’t quite see how it was going to get its due credit for the improvements being made. It was an even greater blow when I realized that sometimes my verbal instructions seemed to decrease the probability of the desired correction occurring.
The one element of the stroke Paul had tried to remember was the one thing he didn’t do! Everything else had been absorbed and reproduced without a word being uttered or an instruction being given!
In fact, someone playing “out of his mind” is more aware of the ball, the court and, when necessary, his opponent. But he is not aware of giving himself a lot of instructions, thinking about how to hit the ball, how to correct past mistakes or how to repeat what he just did. He is conscious, but not thinking, not over-trying. A player in this state knows where he wants the ball to go, but he doesn’t have to “try hard” to send it there. It just seems to happen—and often with more accuracy than he could have hoped for. The player seems to be immersed in a flow of action which requires his energy, yet results in greater power and accuracy. 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.
Chapter Two - The Discovery Of The Two Selves
I can never do anything I try to!”
Chapter Three - Quieting Self 1
Such moments have been called “peak experiences” by the humanistic psychologist Dr. Abraham Maslow. Researching the common characteristics of persons having such experiences, he reports the following descriptive phrases: “He feels more integrated” [the two selves are one], “feels at one with the experience,” “is relatively egoless” [quiet mind], “feels at the peak of his powers,” “fully functioning,” “is in the groove,” “effortless,” “free of blocks, inhibitions, cautions, fears, doubts, controls, reservations, self-criticisms, brakes,” “he is spontaneous and more creative,” “is most here-now,” “is non-striving, non-needing, non-wishing … he just is.”
afterward, no self-congratulations, just the reward inherent in his action: the bird in the mouth.
the players are often amazed to find that they make perfect placements against shots they didn’t even expect to reach. Moving more quickly than they thought they could, they have no time to plan; the perfect shot just comes.
Quieting the mind means less thinking, calculating, judging, worrying, fearing, hoping, trying, regretting, controlling, jittering or distracting. The mind is still when it is totally here and now in perfect oneness with the action and the actor.
it is the initial act of judgment which provokes a thinking process. First the player’s mind judges one of his shots as bad or good.
After Self 1 has evaluated several shots, it is likely to start generalizing. Instead of judging a single event as “another bad backhand,” it starts thinking, “You have a terrible backhand.” Instead of saying, “You were nervous on that point,” it generalizes, “You’re the worst choke artist in the club.” Other common judgmental generalizations are, “I’m having a bad day,” “I always miss the easy ones,” “I’m slow,” etc.
self-judgments become self-fulfilling prophecies.
letting go of judgments does not mean ignoring errors. It simply means seeing events as they are and not adding anything to them. Nonjudgmental awareness might observe that during a certain match you hit 50 percent of your first serves into the net. It doesn’t ignore the fact.
When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as “rootless and stemless.” We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed. When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don’t condemn it as immature and underdeveloped; nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development. The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.
Instead of seeing what was wrong with my backhand, I just started observing, and improvement seemed to happen on its own.
I had learned and he had learned, but there was no one there to take credit. There was only the glimmer of a realization that we were both participating in a wonderful process of natural learning.
with the aid of the mirror, he directly experienced his backswing. Without thinking or analyzing, he increased his awareness of that part of his swing.
Books and articles advise readers to replace negative thinking with positive thinking. People are advised to stop telling themselves they are ugly, uncoordinated, unhappy or whatever, and to repeat to themselves that they are attractive, well coordinated and happy. The substituting of a kind of “positive hypnotism” for a previous habit of “negative hypnotism” may appear at least to have short-range benefits, but I have always found that the honeymoon ends all too soon.
Each of them reported being less aware of their feet and more intent on trying to keep from hitting balls into the net. They were trying to live up to an expectation, a standard of right and wrong, which they felt had been set before them. This was exactly what had been missing during the first set of balls. I began to see that my compliment had engaged their judgmental minds. Self 1, the ego-mind, had gotten into the act. Through this experience, I began to see how Self 1 operated. Always looking for approval and wanting to avoid disapproval, this subtle ego-mind sees a compliment as a potential criticism. It reasons, “If the pro is pleased with one kind of performance, he will be displeased by the opposite. If he likes me for doing well, he will dislike me for not doing well.”
“My compliments are criticisms in disguise.
positive and negative evaluations are relative to each other. It is impossible to judge one event as positive without seeing other events as not positive or as negative. There is no way to stop just the negative side of the judgmental process.
Chapter Four - Trusting Self 2
everyone who inhabits a human body possesses a remarkable instrument.
What does “Trust thyself” mean on the tennis court? It doesn’t mean positive thinking—for example, expecting that you are going to hit an ace on every serve. Trusting your body in tennis means letting your body hit the ball. The key word is let.
Letting it happen is not making it happen. It is not trying hard.
she simply notices the event and perhaps gives a word or gesture of encouragement.
If you view an erratic backhand as a reflection of who you are, you will be upset. But you are not your backhand any more than a parent is his child. If a mother identifies with every fall of her child and takes personal pride in its every success, her self-image will be as unstable as her child’s balance. She finds stability when she realizes that she is not her child, and watches it with love and interest—but as a separate being.
“I don’t know … like this … see?” Ironically, he thinks he doesn’t know how to do the dance because he can’t explain it in words, while most of us who learn tennis through verbal instruction can explain in great detail how the ball should be hit but have trouble doing it. To Self 2, a picture is worth a thousand words. It learns by watching the actions of others, as well as by performing actions itself.
native tongue of Self 2 is imagery: sensory images. Movements are learned through visual and feeling images. So the three methods of communicating I will discuss all involve sending goal-oriented messages to Self 2 by images and “feelmages.”
The changes that Sally made in her forehand lay in the fact that she gave Self 2 a clear visual image of the results she desired. Then she told her body in effect, “Do whatever you have to do to go there.” All she had to do was let it happen. Getting the clearest possible image of your desired outcomes is a most useful method for communicating with Self 2,
You should free yourself from any emotional reaction to success or failure; simply know your goal and take objective interest in the results. Then serve again.
you adopt professional mannerisms, and that you swing your racket with supreme self-assurance. Above all, your face must express no self-doubt. You should look as if you are hitting every ball exactly where you want to. Really get into the role, hit as hard as you like and ignore where the ball is actually going.”
I have found that when players break their habitual patterns, they can greatly extend the limits of their own style and explore subdued aspects of their personality. As you gain easier access to the variety of qualities encompassed in your Self 2, you begin to realize that you can call upon any of these qualities as appropriate to the given situation on or off the tennis court.
Chapter Five - Discovering Technique
The less instruction interferes with the process of learning built into your very DNA, the more effective your progress is going to be. Said another way, the less fear and doubt are embedded in the instructional process, the easier it will be to
words can only represent actions, ideas and experiences. Language is not the action, and at best can only hint at the subtlety and complexity contained in the stroke.
it has recently been confirmed by the United States Tennis Association Sports Science Department, as well as by almost everyone’s experience, that too many verbal instructions, given either from outside or inside, interfere with one’s shotmaking ability.
Chapter Six - Changing Habits
When one learns how to change a habit, it is a relatively simple matter to learn which ones to change. Once you learn how to learn, you have only to discover what is worth learning.
there is no need to fight old habits. Start new ones. It is the resisting of an old habit that puts you in that trench. Starting a new pattern is easy when done with childlike disregard for imagined difficulties.
Chapter Seven - Concentration: Learning To Focus
To still the mind one must learn to put it somewhere. It cannot just be let go; it must be focused.
As one achieves focus, the mind quiets. As the mind is kept in the present, it becomes calm. Focus means keeping the mind now and here.
The instruction is an appeal for the player to simply “pay attention.” It does not mean to think about the ball, how easy or difficult this shot is to make, how I should swing my racket at it, or what Tom, Dick or Harry will think if I make the shot or miss it. The focused mind only picks up on those aspects of a situation that are needed to accomplish the task at hand. It is not distracted by other thoughts or external events, it is totally engrossed in whatever is relevant in the here and now.
The mind is so absorbed in watching the pattern that it forgets to try too hard. To the extent that the mind is preoccupied with the seams, it tends not to interfere with the natural movements of the body. Furthermore, the seams are always here and now, and if the mind is on them it is kept from wandering to the past or future.
Not assuming you already know is a powerful principle of focus. One thing you don’t know about the ball is exactly when it is going to bounce and when it is going to hit either your racket or your opponent’s.
Natural focus occurs when the mind is interested. When this occurs, the mind is drawn irresistibly toward the object (or subject) of interest. It is effortless and relaxed, not tense and overly controlled.
Forget should’s and experience is.
Through eyes, it knows sights; through ears, sounds; and through mind it knows concepts, facts and ideas. All that ever happens to us, all that we ever do, is known to us through the light energy of what is called consciousness.
When attention is allowed to focus, it comes to know that place. Attention is focused consciousness, and consciousness is that power of knowing.
Broad focus would be an attempt to see as much of the forest at one time as possible. Narrow focus would be directing attention to something very specific
others remarked how weird it was to hit balls when you didn’t have time to think about it. All who enter even a little into that state of being present will experience a calmness and a degree of ecstasy which they will want to repeat.
It may not feel the same as ego gratification, a feeling which we all too often like a great deal, but there is a feeling some call harmony, balance, poise, even peace, or contentment. And it can feel that way in the middle of a very “intense” tennis match.
It is perplexing to wonder why we ever leave the here and now. Here and now are the only place and time when one ever enjoys himself or accomplishes anything. Most of our suffering takes place when we allow our minds to imagine the future or mull over the past. Nonetheless, few people are ever satisfied with what is before them at the moment. Our desire that things be different from what they are pulls our minds into an unreal world, and consequently we are less able to appreciate what the present has to offer.
Chapter Eight - Games People Play On The Court
Played neither for winning nor to become “good,” but for fun alone. (A game rarely played in its pure form.)
We live in an achievement-oriented society where people tend to be measured by their competence in various endeavors. Even before we received praise or blame for our first report card, we were loved or ignored for how well we performed our very first actions. From this pattern, one basic message came across loud, clear and often: you are a good person and worthy of respect only if you do things successfully. Of course, the kind of things needed to be done well to deserve love varies from family to family, but the underlying equation between self-worth and performance has been nearly universal.
When love and respect depend on winning or doing well in a competitive society, it is inevitable (since every winner requires a loser and every top performance many inferior ones) that there will be many people who feel a lack of love and respect.
who said that I should be measured at all?
Though I hated losing, I didn’t really enjoy beating someone else; I found it slightly embarrassing.
What I really wanted, I realized, was to overcome the nervousness that was preventing me from playing my best and enjoying myself. I wanted to overcome the inner obstacle that had plagued me for so much of my life. I wanted to win the inner game.
I walked off the courts feeling that I had won. I had lost the external game, but had won the game I had wanted to, my own game,
Chapter Nine - The Meaning Of Competition
Each imagines that by beating the other he has in some way established his superiority over him, not just in a game, but as a person. What is seldom recognized is that the need to prove yourself is based on insecurity and self-doubt. Only to the extent that one is unsure about who and what he is does he need to prove himself to himself or to others.
Yet in the process of learning to measure our value according to our abilities and achievements, the true and measureless value of each individual is ignored. Children who have been taught to measure themselves in this way often become adults driven by a compulsion to succeed which overshadows all else. The tragedy of this belief is not that they will fail to find the success they seek, but that they will not discover the love or even the self-respect they were led to believe will come with it. Furthermore, in their single-minded pursuit of measurable success, the development of many other human potentialities is sadly neglected. Some never find the time or inclination to appreciate the beauties of nature, to express their deepest feelings and thoughts to a loved one, or to wonder about the ultimate purpose of their existence.
By not trying, they always have an alibi: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t count because I really didn’t try.” What is not usually admitted is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, then yes, that would count. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly this belief is the same as that of the competitor trying to prove himself. Both are Self 1 ego trips; both are based on the mistaken assumption that one’s sense of self-respect rides on how well he performs in relation to others.
He values the obstacles the wave puts between him and his goal of riding the wave to the beach. Why? Because it is those very obstacles, the size and churning power of the wave, which draw from the surfer his greatest effort. It is only against the big waves that he is required to use all his skill, all his courage and concentration to overcome; only then can he realize the true limits of his capacities. At that point he often attains his peak. In other words, the more challenging the obstacle he faces, the greater the opportunity for the surfer to discover and extend his true potential. The potential may have always been within him, but until it is manifested in action, it remains a secret hidden from himself. The obstacles are a very necessary ingredient to this process of self-discovery. Note that the surfer in this example is not out to prove himself; he is not out to show himself or the world how great he is, but is simply involved in the exploration of his latent capacities. He directly and intimately experiences his own resources and thereby increases his self-knowledge. From this example the basic meaning of winning became more clear to me. Winning is overcoming obstacles to reach a goal, but the value in winning is only as great as the value of the goal reached. Reaching the goal itself may not be as valuable as the experience that can come in making a supreme effort to overcome the obstacles involved. The process can be more rewarding than the victory itself.
who is it that provides a person with the obstacles he needs in order to experience his highest limits? His opponent, of course! Then is your opponent a friend or an enemy? He is a friend to the extent that he does his best to make things difficult for you. Only by playing the role of your enemy does he become your true friend. Only by competing with you does he in fact cooperate!
true competition is identical with true cooperation. Each player tries his hardest to defeat the other, but in this use of competition it isn’t the other person we are defeating; it is simply a matter of overcoming the obstacles he presents. In true competition no person is defeated. Both players benefit by their efforts to overcome the obstacles presented by the other.
If I assume that I am making myself more worthy of respect by winning, then I must believe, consciously or unconsciously, that by defeating someone, I am making him less worthy of respect. I can’t go up without pushing someone else down. This belief involves us in a needless sense of guilt.
Maximum effort does not mean the super-exertion of Self 1. It means concentration, determination and trusting your body to “let it happen.” It means maximum physical and mental effort.
When one is emotionally attached to results that he can’t control, he tends to become anxious and then try too hard. But one can control the effort he puts into winning. One can always do the best he can at any given moment. Since it is impossible to feel anxiety about an event that one can control, the mere awareness that you are using maximum effort to win each point will carry you past the problem of anxiety.
Chapter Ten - The Inner Game Off The Court
The longer I live, the greater my appreciation of the gift that life itself is. This gift is much greater than I could have imagined, and therefore time spent living it in a state of stress means I am missing a lot—
I don’t believe in self-improvement, and I certainly don’t want to improve them. Sometimes there is a stunned response. But I don’t think anyone’s Self 2 needs improvement from birth to death. It has always been fine.
What else can be done to promote stability? The message of the Inner Game is simple: focus. Focus of attention in the present moment, the only one you can really live in, is at the heart of this book and at the heart of the art of doing anything well. Focus means not dwelling on the past, either on mistakes or glories; it means not being so caught up in the future, either its fears or its dreams, that my full attention is taken from the present.
ambiguous. I didn’t give up in the sense of quitting. In one sense I gave up one kind of caring and was imbued with another. Apparently, letting go of my grip on life released an energy that paradoxically made it possible for me to run with utter abandon toward life. “Abandon” is a good word to describe what happens to a tennis player who feels he has nothing to lose. He stops caring about the outcome and plays all out. It is a letting go of the concerns of Self 1 and letting in of the natural concerns of a deeper and truer self. It is caring, yet not caring; it is effort, but effortless at the same time.