How to Do Better
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Transcript of How to Do Better
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How to Do Better at Almost Everything (by Not Really Trying)
Here is a simple --- yet profound---formula for achieving peak performance in sports, in business,
in all the challenges of life.
An editorial review
BY SAMUEL A SCHREINER, JR
IT WAS MIDNIGT and cold-----
well below zero. W. Timothy Gallwey, a
young Californian, was driving alone
through some Maine backwoods when
his car skidded and slid into a snow
bank. Gallwey had not seen another
vehicle on the road for 20 minutes, so
waiting in the car seemed hopeless. He
decided his best chance was to go for
help. Wearing only slacks and a sports
jacket, he started running back the way
he had come. In the thin, cold air, he
was winded in minutes. Fatigue set in,
then thumbness, then a paralyzing fear.
I could die out here! He realized.
So frightening was this thought
that Gallwey stopped in his tracks. Then
something happened: he short-circuited
his fear by accepting it---- and thinking
of something else. If I am going to die,
worrying about it wont change anything,he told himself. He suddenly became
aware of the beauty around him: the
silence of the night, the shimmer of the
stars, the trees silhouetted against the
snow. Unprompted by thought,
Gallweys body took over and he started
to run again, but with new energy. He
ran for 40 minutes without apparent
effort---until he reached a friendly
home.
Tim Gallwey did not realize then
that the strange inner power hed
suddenly developed would become the
basis of astonishing career as the
formulator of what he calls the Inner
Game. But, after years of
experimenting as athlete and teacher,Gallwey realized that what saved him
on that frosty night was the enormous
potential all human beings have if only
they will use it.
Over the past ten years, hes turned that
insight into principles for better
performance in almost any endeavor, as
set forth in his seminars, TVappearances, and in such bestselling
books as The Inner Game of Tennis, Inner
skinning (with Bob Kriegel) and The inner
Game of Golf. Now 43 he has already
helped thousands of people to stay on
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fascination of the mind. In tennis, for
example, he advises that you learn to
love the ball. That you stop ordering
yourself to watch it and simply let your
eyes see it---its textures, its seams, itsshape, its trajectory. When I managed to
do this myself, I discovered that a kind
of magic took over. Soon I was getting
shots I did not believe possible.
In a game where there is no
actual ball, the first problem is deciding
what the ball should be. In selling, for
example, the salesman may think that
hes the ball and concentrate on his own
appearance and personality. Or hell
think that the ball is the product, and
dwell upon its wonders. Actually,
Gallwey contends, in selling, the ball is
the buyer. Watch the buyer as you
would a tennis ball--- the seams are
things like a yawn, a shift of the eyes, a
change in the voice. Even if you dont
make the sale, youll learn from the
buyers signs of resistance where your
pitch went wrong.
2
Trust yourself. Self 1, the knower inside
us, is highly critical. Often it gives up
completely on Self 2, the doer, saying,
You cant do anything right.
This is wrong. Far from criticizing
Self 2, Self 1 should stand back in awe of
human capacity. We all trust Self 2 to
perform without such daily feats of
coordination as tying shoe, threading a
needle or driving a car. Mistrust sets in,
however , when we take on tasks of
measureable achievements that also
involve the ego. With our self image at
stake, we become afraid to leave it all upto an unconscious Self 2.
How do we learn to trust Self 2?
By practice! Let go and let it happen,
Gallwey advises. Suspend Self 1s
judgment as to whether the particular
challenge ---the ski turn, the golf putt,
the difficult passage in a Beethoven
sonata---is being done right or wrong.
On the tennis court, for example,
Gallwey had students hit balls toward a
can without caring whether they
reached the mark; they were asked only
to first visualize the ball hitting the can,
and then to observe where it actually
did land. As ball after ball was hit, Self 2
made corrections without conscious
thought, and the balls came closer and
closer to the can.
3
Focus on the here and now. Self 1 wont be
at peace unless it does something useful--
-and that can be observing and
monitoring the performance of Self 2.
Concentrate on what is happening
rather than on what you fear to hopewill happen. When you are skiing, for
example, be aware of how your feet feel
as your edge bite into the hill, instead of
thinking about falling. Anxiety is fear
about what may happen, Gallwey
writes. But when your attention is on
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the here and now, the actions that need
doing have the best chance of being
accomplished.
Awareness should include an
objective assessment of everything in
the situation you face. Looking down a
ski slope, Self 1 may say, thats the bad
one ---Charlie fell on it yesterday. In
fact, there are no good or bad
slopes; there are only slopes with certain
characteristics. Self 2s vision of these is
sharper when they are viewed by Self 1.
4
Dont worry about winning. Gallwey is
convinced that worrying is the most
insidious trick Self 1 plays on Self 2. It
tightens muscles and tense nerves, the
most common cause error. Self 2,
Gallwey claims, do its best only when
Self 1 stops giving impossible
commands.
If you stop consciously trying,
you can perform with what Gallwey
calls effortless effort. Self 2 will live
up to its potential, which is the total of
its natural equipments plus what it has
learned in practice. Gallwey has
discovered that the less we worry about
end results the better they are likely to
be. Abandon is a good word to
describe what happens to a tennis
player, for that matter---who feels he
has nothing to lose, Gallwey says. He
stops worrying about the outcome and
simply plays all out. Ironically, when
that state is achieved, the results are
often the best possible.
5
Dont question your potential. Self-doubtis almost invariably self-fulfilling. The
golfer who always thinks as he steps
onto the green, I always four-foot putts,
will always do so. Self-doubt can be
banished only if you silence Self 1 and
concentrate on the present. One woman
in a Gallwey class claimed she was
scared to death to face an audience.
How did she know she was scared?asked Gallwey. Because, she said, her
knees shook. Gallwey asked her to
measure the shaking of her knees on a
scale of zero to ten. About nine she
said, and already her voice was calmer.
Then Gallwey got her to face the class.
The womans fascination with feeling
her own fear made her lose it. When the
shaking dropped to nearly zero, she wasable to talk to the group about her
experience----to make the first speech of
her life ---and has since become a talk-
show hostess.
A MAN WITH A MISSION, Gallwey
has few self-doubts. He thinks that a
wider understanding of the Inner Game
and his ramifications could help ourwhole society. Whether thats true or
not, the evidence is strong that playing a
good Inner Game can at least improve
the performance of any individual
involved in a specific task. If, that is, we
just dont try too hard.