1 Monumental Shift for the Self Critical Athlete

Carson is a sophomore soccer player who just got picked up by a very high level organization that had been recruiting him.

He’s a self-proclaimed perfectionist who loves to win, hates to lose, and wants every single touch of the ball to be better than the last. 

During our call the other day he was sharing openly about what had been frustrating him (Side Note: if you want your athlete to perform free, they need to be able to share openly and honestly with someone they trust, before getting to the “what are you going to do about it?” step).

I noticed something small but crucial…it was not the question itself but rather the word he was emphasizing in the question that was the problem.

“WHY do I keep messing up my passes?”

“WHY aren’t I putting my shots away?”

“WHY do I keep losing the ball?”

I helped him make one small shift that changed everything for him.

Carson, your drive to get better is what makes you great. 

I have a question for you:

“Why DO you keep messing up your passes?”

He paused…thought about it…and replied:

“Coach, I think it’s because I am rushing it. I need to slow down, see the field. I need to make a move and execute, but a second later than I am right now.”

“Good. Next Question…why AREN’T you putting your shots away?”

“Honestly, I haven’t been working on it as much as I need to. At practices and even during my own training, I have not been locked in on it. I’ll make that my focus during training starting next week.”

You get the idea. We did this for all the questions. It was so easy.

By changing the way we asked the question and the word we emphasized, Carson went from being a critic to a student.

He went from complaining about the problem to composing a plan of action. I didn’t have to tell him what to do– he already knew. He just needed the right questions asked the right way. 

Athlete, if you really want to be great, you need to spend 1% of your time thinking about the problem (14.4 minutes a day) and 99% thinking about the solution.

Average athletes get this backwards.

Great athletes get this right.

Start asking questions like you want to be the best you can be, and you will eventually become the best you can be!

-Coach Andrew

P.S. With sports starting up we are taking 3 more students this month in our program. Reply “Mindset” and I will send you a link to learn more and apply for 1 on 1 mental performance coaching.

P.P.S. You can now listen to Don’t Let One Mistake Ruin the Game on audiobook. Go here to listen for FREE.