Who Should Be Your Biggest Competition?
Hi Friend,
Growing up I lived in a house on a cul-de-sac with 6 other houses. It was really cool! All the neighbors had kids. Most of the kids I played with were older than me.
So I learned real FAST what the word “Competition” meant.
Every day after school we’d play soccer, baseball, football, basketball, tag… you name it. Playing with and against my friends taught me two valuable skills that I still use today.
a. Never give up
b. Work ethic is the key
But it also taught me a bad habit.
As we all got older my friends found other ways to spend their time. Mostly they chased girls and went to parties. The numbers dwindled down and all of the sudden I found myself as the only one showing up for the games after school.
Being the ridiculously competitive person I am, the first question I asked was “Who am I going to compete against?”
After a few minutes I came up with a pretty good answer – MYSELF!
At least I thought it was a good answer. Truth is, for a few months it worked. And I did get better.
But when I needed to get to the next level of competition something switched in my mind. I stopped competing against myself and I started attacking myself.
This is very common. And when it happened to me practice stopped being fun and motivating.
Instead it became a battle inside my own head. One I was losing.
Imagine going out to play the game you love and spending the entire practice session mentally beating yourself up. It was no surprise that my performance in my actual games suffered. I was so frustrated.
Then one day it hit me like a ton of bricks.
What if I stopped competing against myself and started COOPERATING with myself?
This way I’d be working WITH myself to get better and achieve my goals. Instantly practice became fun again. I started to relax while I played. My motto became “I CAN do it!”
My confidence soared and I started scoring more goals on Saturdays.
Over the last 5 years training young soccer players I’ve realized this form of competition is the biggest problem.
I see so many young soccer players trying – no struggling is a better word – to improve. But inside their own head they are competing against themselves in a bad way and they are putting up their own roadblocks and obstacles.
Any time you compete against yourself there is only one outcome.
You lose EVERYTIME!
Why not try my method of cooperating with you?
Wishing you skills and confidence,
Nolan Berentis
P.S. Cooperation is the secret key that allows you to harness your power, eliminate fear, and remove resistance so you can become the amazing soccer player you want to be.
