Productivity
The Inner Game of Tennis Summary & Review: Quiet the Voice That Misses
W. Timothy Gallwey’s 1974 classic: why the voice that grades every swing is the miss — and how quieting Self 1 lets…
Read Summary →W. Timothy Gallwey
"The coach who named the opponent inside your head."
W. Timothy Gallwey (born 1938 in San Francisco) captained the Harvard tennis team and then coached players who got worse the more instructions he piled on. In 1974 he published The Inner Game of Tennis, naming Self 1 (the judging teller) and Self 2 (the body that already knows). Billie Jean King called it her tennis bible. He later extended the method to golf, music, and work.
1 book·Performance coaching
Books by W. Timothy Gallwey
Our in-depth summaries and reviews of his work
Key Ideas & Recurring Themes
Performance = potential − interference
You raise the result by lowering Self 1’s lecture, not by shouting more technique.
Self 1 vs Self 2
The teller judges. The body already knows the stroke. Quiet the first so the second can work.
Nonjudgmental awareness
See the bounce and the hit without a grade. Awareness is the coach.
Notable Quotes
"The opponent within one’s own head is more formidable than the one on the other side of the net."— The Inner Game of Tennis
"Performance equals potential minus interference."— The Inner Game of Tennis
Related Authors
Book Author W. Timothy Gallwey
The Inner Game of Tennis Summary & Review: Quiet the Voice That Misses
W. Timothy Gallwey’s 1974 classic: why the voice that grades every swing is the miss — and how quieting Self 1 lets Self 2 do the week’s real work now.