The Inner Game of Tennis
by W. Timothy Gallwey
Mentioned 3 times across 2 shows · first heard Oct 2025 on My First Million.
The general take
The Inner Game of Tennis presented a counterintuitive message when it broke through in 1974—Molly Worthen notes that Galloway pushed back against the conventional coaching wisdom of obsessing over every technical detail of your stroke. Sam Parr finds the book's core idea about Self One (the critic) and Self Two compelling, though he hasn't read it himself but keeps hearing people recommend it.
About
“A Zen classic” ( The Washington Post ) about achieving the state of “relaxed concentration” that’s not only the key to peak performance in tennis but the secret to success in life itself—now in a 50th anniversary edition with an updated epilogue and a foreword by NFL coach Pete Carroll “ The Inner Game of Tennis is not just a tennis book . . . because inner voices torture all of us—not just country-club tennis players.”—Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Big Short This phenomenally successful guide to mastering the game from the inside out has become a touchstone for hundreds of thousands of people. Billie Jean King has called the book her tennis bible; Al Gore has used it to focus his campaign staff; and Itzhak Perlman has recommended it to young violinists. Based on W.
Who said what
- MW
Molly Worthen💬 Mentioned
…discussing tim galway's counterintuitive tennis coaching approach and philosophy
“He really burst onto national consciousness in 1974 with a book he published called The Inner Game of Tennis. And his message was quite counterintuitive, I think. Essentially, he said, you've got all these coaches advising you to pay close, deliberate attention to every detail of your forehand and backhand and your serve and to drill down until you're absolutely mindful of every detail. I'm telling you that's the wrong approach and that successful tennis is an exercise in self-forgetting, in silencing the ego mind.”
Hidden Brain — The Secret of Charismaat 16:00 
Sam Parr👍 Recommends
…discussing how intuition and practice outweigh self-criticism and overthinking
“Have you read the inner game of tennis no but everybody tells me so listen to this so I think it's I think the guy's name is Tim Galloway the idea is that he wrote it in the 1960s or maybe 70s he was a tennis instructor and so he was like trying to get his students to be better tennis players and he developed this idea of self one and self two self one is a critic and so when you would hit a ball you'd say shit that was horrible I gotta move my hand this way I gotta do this self two is someone who doesn't listen to the brain but listens to the body.”
My First Million — Why Balance Is the Enemy of Greatness | David Senraat 15:00
Shaan Puri👍 Recommends
…discussing flow states and trusting instinct versus conscious analysis when performing under pressure
“I read a ton. I would say almost a book a week. And the reason I read so much is because my philosophy towards reading is I want to see what worked for the winners that I love and what strategies they use. Have you ever read the inner game of tennis, Daniel? No. We talked about it on here. And what you're describing is exactly that. So it's this amazing book. I don't play tennis, but it's about how to play tennis. But it's one of these books where it teaches you about life. And the concept of the book is basically that you have two selves.”
My First Million — $50M Poker Pro Shares His Best Advice For Foundersat 47:15
Listener reviews
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