Opportunity – How Do You Make The Most Of It?
Now the question is, with all of these decisions facing you every day, how do you make the right ones? I am not here to tell you never to indulge in something fun over the off-season, or never take a day off training, or that your life has to be a constant grind if you’re going to make it… Just here to tell you that when making these decisions every day, have an idea of your goal, and if you are taking steps towards, or further away from it.
How do you know for sure if you are making the right decisions? Well… you don’t. However, a key in at least having a good idea of the right / wrong answers for you is self awareness. Know yourself and know what you’re after. Are you at the level you want to be at? Or are you looking to make another jump up this next season? Do you want to make a career out of your sport? Or are you happy just playing, enjoying it and moving on when your time is done?
There is no right or wrong answer to those questions. My only goal with them is to get you to think. Think about yourself as an athlete, and think about what you are doing to further progress your career. Could you REALLY afford to miss that training session you skipped because you were tired? Or did you really need the recovery day? Again… I don’t know. You do. The more honest you can be with yourself, the easier it will be to step forward in your career.
Too often athletes talk about how they want to conquer the world of sports, make the pros and sign the million dollar contracts… then they’re missing training, out drinking every weekend, showing up late for practice… the list goes on. All that I see when this starts happening is someone that is not self aware. If you don’t want to take your athletic career seriously, that’s okay… but understand that generally the guys who sign the million dollar contracts and conquer the world are the ones who take it seriously. They’re the ones who make their actions match their ambitions.
There is nothing wrong with not wanting to make it to the top. However, if you really do want to make it… the more time and the more work you put in, the better your chances are. When your teammates are out drinking after the game, go home and get some sleep. When they’re skipping morning practice to sleep in… be the first one in the door. If you really and truly want this to be your career, start acting like it. If you can look at how you spend your time right now and change one time wasting habit into a habit that helps your career move forwards… and then you can keep doing that every day… You will start to excel before you know it. It’s a process, it takes time, but when you reach the top one day, it will be so worth it.
If I could leave you with one take away it would be this. Ask yourself “How badly do I want this?” There is no WRONG answer to that question… However, if you really do want a career playing your sport, then follow up with “Am I doing enough to get it?” The two questions are pretty straight forward, but can really change your perspective and change your career if you can be honest with yourself about it.
If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read my latest blog. I hope you got something out of it. If you did, I would love to hear more! Shoot me an e-mail or a message on facebook / instagram / twitter and let me know what you thought! Have a wonderful day.