The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

by W. Timothy Gallwey

The first skill to learn is the art of letting go the human inclination to judge ourselves and our performance as either good or bad. Letting

judgments are our personal, ego reactions to the sights, sounds, feelings and thoughts within our experience.

Both mental processes end in further evaluation, which perpetuates the process of thinking and self-conscious performance.

what usually happens is that these 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.

But judgmental labels usually lead to emotional reactions and then to tightness, trying too hard, self-condemnation, etc. This process can be slowed by using descriptive but nonjudgmental words to describe the events you see.

Judgment results in tightness, and tightness interferes with the fluidity required for accurate and quick movement. Relaxation produces smooth strokes and results from accepting your strokes as they are, even if erratic.

They are not “bad” events, but they seem to endure endlessly as long as we call them bad and identify with them.

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. To see your strokes as they are, there is no need to attribute goodness or badness to them. The same goes for the results of your strokes. You can notice exactly how far out a ball lands without labeling it a “bad” event. By ending judgment, you do not avoid seeing what is. Ending judgment means you neither add nor subtract from the

But first, one balancing thought. It is important to remember that not all remarks are judgmental. Acknowledgment of one’s own or another’s strengths, efforts, accomplishments, etc., can facilitate natural learning, whereas judgments interfere. What is the difference? Acknowledgment of and respect for one’s capabilities support trust in Self 2. Self 1’s judgments, on the other hand, attempt to manipulate and undermine that trust.