Message of the Day - The Inner Game

Good Morning,

 

Welcome new recipients!

 

My current read is ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ by W. Timothy Gallwey (http://www.theinnergame.com) which is another book covered in the 50 Success Classics series. Don’t be fooled about the title, while the book talks a lot about tennis, it covers achieving optimal performance in whatever we do in life. It is an interesting read. I enjoyed it!

 

The Inner Game is the balance of our ego and our potential. Our ego wants to control our actions, and be appreciated when we succeed and point a finger of blame when we fail. Our ego wants to dictate how we perform our tasks and this micromanaging of our performance then goes to reduce our efficiency. The challenge we all face is that our ego is deeply woven into our very being and is always looking for ways to be more active in our lives.

 

When we work to our potential, without the ego to interfere, we often have a feeling that we did something in our sleep, or without thinking about it. This is the optimum level of performance, when we just do. To win the Inner Game, we must find a way to focus ourselves to keep our ego from micromanaging our activities so that our potential is unleashed.

 

Learning to focus ourselves and keep our mind in the present, we can keep our ego in check while allowing ourselves to unleash our potential. This means not thinking about doing the laundry when you are working on a specific project. Keep your mind on the task at hand, and work to keep your focus on what you are doing.

 

Like the Precious Present by Spenser Johnson, Timothy Gallwey tells us to put our attention on what is here and now. Holding to the pains and troubles of the past will not help you succeed now. Learn from the past, and then let it go. And don’t fixate on the future, you cannot control the future.

 

There is a famous saying: "Yesterday is history, the future is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why they call it the present!”

 

I like that!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

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