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The surfer waits for the big wave because he values the challenge it presents. 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 slips into a superconscious state and 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.
Starting in the mid-1970s many corporate leaders and managers recognized the implications of The Inner Game concepts and models for facilitating desired changes in the workplace. A corollary of this is that it’s surprisingly easy to break bad habits and establish positive ones when you have a meaningful, rewarding, clearly defined vision for an alternative habit that meets the same needs as the old one in a healthier, more productive way. Tim Gallwey’s game changing work on the performance psychology field has evolved over four decades to develop Inner Game methods of change to corporate culture. His long term clients included Apple, AT&T, The Coca Cola Company, and Rolls Royce where he applied The Inner Game of coaching for Leadership, Sales, Change management and Teamwork, Gallwey’s work has often been credited as the foundation of the new fields of corporate and life coaching.Imagine how your life might be different if you really believed and regularly reminded yourself of the following: The first major learning step of The Inner Game theory is that within every human being, there are two selves rather than one. Self 1 is the conscious ego mind that we as human have invented on top of the real self that we were born with. Self 2 is the human being itself. It embodies all the inherent potential we are born with, including all capacities actualized and not yet actualized. It also embodies our innate ability to learn and to grow any of those inherent capacities. It is the self we all enjoyed as children and the self we most enjoy as adults when we allow ourselves to access it.
Focus is not achieved by staring hard at something. It is not trying to force focus, nor does it mean thinking hard about something. 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. When watching the tennis ball, allow yourself to fall into focus. If your eyes are squinting or straining, you are trying too hard. If you find yourself chastising yourself for losing focus, then you may be overcontrolling. Let the ball attract your mind, and both it and your muscles will stay appropriately relaxed. This misapplication of effort is fundamentally a problem of control. To reach the highest echelons of achievement, we must be willing to release control and trust ourselves. On Focus How you intend to use the content (e.g. in a training program, seminar, book, printed or online course materials) the inner game. This is the game that takes place in the mind of the player, and it is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self-condemnation. In short, it is played to overcome all habits of mind which inhibit excellence in performance.” Side note: see the (long) quote I copied about this in the quotes section, as it's quite brilliantly written and explained.Technical instructions are a modern innovation. Experience had to proceed instruction or technical knowledge, because how would that knowledge have been acquired in the first place? Verbal instruction comes from people with experience, but when it’s passed on to people with no experience, it’s harder to understand. There’s a huge split between mind and body.
If you ask executives the meaning of the word work, they focus on work as doing something – as accomplishing a goal, such as providing a product or service. In other words, to many people, work only means performance. But definitions that equate work with performance can be not only limiting but soul destroying, especially in the current business environment. As a boy, Tim Gallwey was nationally ranked tennis player in his division and later captained his Harvard University team. For performance to approach potential, get out of your own way and allow your hard-won talent to shine through. For the player of the Inner Game, it is the moment-by-moment effort to let go and to stay centered in the here-and-now action which offers the real winning and losing, and this game never ends. 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.
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Consider the process of watching the ball. Often, people think watching the ball includes watching the ball, thinking about the next shot, or worrying about what anyone watching will think if they flub it. To still the mind one must learn to put it somewhere. It cannot just be let go; it must be focused. After you let go of self-judgment, you can find self-confidence. Begin thinking about your body differently—it does all kinds of incredible things (talking, walking, reading) without any noticed effort. Considering this, it doesn’t make much sense to constantly denigrate yourself. An important maxim here is “trust thyself”: Allow your body to complete feats without constant interference from the ego part of your mind.
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