Highlights from Inner Game of Work

Jun 9, 2024

Inner Game of Work

Growing up I read “Inner game of Tennis” by Timothy Gallwey to improve my tennis game. Since then, I continued to see some of the concepts outlined in that book in other parts of my life. For example, in “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, Kahnman talks about System 1 and System 2 thinking. A concept that’s similar (but fundamentally different) to Timothy Gallwey’s Self 1 and Self 2.

When I make these connections between different works the core material ends up in my long term memory. These terms and concepts then become things I regularly think about day to day. Moreover, I’m more open to similar works because of these memories. One day, I came across “Inner game of Work” by Timothy Gallwey and just like his previous book I walked away with new connections and deeper insights. I’d like to share some of those.

1. Don’t autopilot your life

In tennis and sports in general you can make a lot of improvement just by playing the game for hours and hours. Usually that gets you pretty far but one day you will hit a wall. Playing more no longer improves you but rather ensures your skills don’t deteroriate. Why do some players continue to keep improving while others plateua? Pop science’s answer to this is a concept called deliberate practice.

The meanring of autopilot is just going through the motions and not actively thinking about what needs to change. You’re not active in the drivers seat. Autopiloting is just hoping you’ll pick things up by osmosis as you spend more hours on something. People constantly make the mistake that years of experience will equate to expertise.

I played tennis since I was five on autopilot and I made my highschool’s varsity tennis team the same year as a good friend of mine who picked up the sport over the summer. Tennis was just a casual hobby of mine so it was ok that my years of experience was achieved in a matter of months, but this experience set an example of what can happen if you aren’t conciously thinking about what you’re doing.

In chapter 6, Gallwey introduces the concept of mobility. Mobility is what didn’t activate during my tennis years.

Mobility is about concious wisdom. It’s not just about being in the flow, but about being very clear about where you are, where you are going, and why. In essence, it is about working conciously.

To know what you are doing and why requires concious thought and constant remembarance.

In tennis your goal can be to win a tournament or make your college team. Work and life is a bit more complicated. We need to think about where we’re going and why and this takes time. Without this we’ll continue to autopilot.

2. Ask yourself why you work?

Gallwey presents a great perspective on what we get out of our work. He mentions compensation comes in three forms,

Monetary rewards — We get paid for our work.

Learnings — We learn things.

Entertainment — Work can be fun.

It’s super obvious, but sometimes it’s easy to forget we get three things and not just one. Maybe you joined your current company to “optimize for learning” and a few years in you’re no longer learning as much as you once were. This leads to restlessness and lack of motivation. However, the same years led to a massive increase in your compensation and . There is no one size fits all answer here, but the first step is figuring out where you’re going. What do you want to get out of your work?

Maybe times have changed and actually the money makes a big difference because you’re saving for a home. By conciously thinking and not autopilot-ing you actually realize you’re in a really good situation for now. This pause and reflection is necessary to employ Gallwey’s concept of mobility.

3. Pause and reflect

To me, the thesis of the book is about being more deliberate with how and why we work. The rest of the book is tips and tricks on how to stay focused on that deliberation. Just like in the previous example of pausing to reflect on your unhappy work situation, Gallwey recommends pausing throughout your day to reflect.

Some reasons you might want to pause (STOP as he calls it):

You’re procastinating, then it might be good to take stock on why
You’re tired, then it might be good to pause to take a break and think about if your energy was well spent
At the beginning and end of your days, then plan your day / retro your day
You got critical feedback on performance, then think about what needs to change

These pauses are another way you can ensure you’re not autopilot-ing.

4. Awareness is necessary for change

When you’re pausing and reflecting what should one think about? Gallwey recommends focusing on critical variables. For example, you might’ve gotten some feedback on your performance that you’re too taking too long to start big projects. The next step is to start focusing your awareness on how long it takes for you to start big projects. A core belief of his is that most problems will automatically solve themselves if you direct your awareness. Once you start paying attention you’ll see the days ticking by and you’re more likely to start sooner.

The key is to picking the right variables based on what you’re trying to optimize for. To make space for this we pause and reflect.

Combining the above

We need awareness for change and what to be aware about is dependent on our reflectons during our pauses. The motivation behind our reflections are powered by why we work and the work we choose to do is based on concious thought, certainly not through autopilot.