Your Yesterday Self Vs Your Today Self
Tags: Football, Lifestyle, Sports, Self Improvement, Soccer

Several young players have role models that they look up to in football, they picture an ideal world for which they can imagine and dream of one day, feeling what it would be like to live life in their boots. The successes, the trials and tribulations that shape the direction they then choose to take in the future, just so long as they end at the final destination that they envisioned. But, often at times the obsession of comparing between yourself and those at the top of your chosen field are at such polar opposites you begin to question, “Am I good enough? I don’t think I have what it takes to become the next Lionel Messi or Lieke Martens… It’s not a realistic dream”.

Throughout our sporting experiences there are many moments of frustration. Impatience is an example of where some of our frustrations arise, being able to see people succeeding and thinking they were, “just another overnight success”. Your role models will be the first to tell you that they have sacrificed so much time and effort to get them to where they are today, to commit to becoming the greatest players, athletes that they can become. What we are asking of you here is simply to take it upon yourself to begin taking those strides to improve, if you haven’t already.

Stop comparing your chapter 2 to somebodies chapter 11. The focus must be on yourself and channeling your energy on being a better version of you compared to who you were the day before. This is a concrete and measurable improvement that you have to have the self-awareness of in order to become a better player. Little by little you will make more realistic improvements that can help to increase the belief in yourself as you build these tactics day-by-day in your pursuit of betterment.

Make a plan on what improvements you want to make: tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. Set yourself smaller targets that work toward your bigger goals, that keep your momentum flowing in the right direction and if ever you feel de-motivated, you will know if you are beginning to waver off track. What if you can’t achieve your goals? Adapting is your way out, readjust what you set out to do, you might find it is too big to accomplish at this given time, so break it down into smaller parts.

If you find that something is working for you today, it doesn’t mean it will work for you tomorrow. As you go about creating and crushing your own goals, you should also be adjusting and reinventing your strategies based on the work you have to put in. We are all seeking ways to work more effectively, efficiently and productively in everything we do, professionally or personally and within football this is no exception. We must have a level of consistency to our craft. Ask yourself why you aren’t reaching your target and what can you do to change that. Take a moment, gather yourself and your thoughts, there are always other options that will suit you better, you just have to find them.

Having the ability to maintain your confidence is of utmost importance for you to keep going and continue on reaching your goals, because it is very easy to feel good when things are going well. However, what are you like when things don’t go to plan? Do you stop functioning, do you start to panic, stress, feel down about yourself? How long does it take for you to find that confidence again? An hour, a day, a few days, a week or longer? Maybe it’s a cycle. If we refer back to self-awareness, there’s a level of command that we control in accepting what our own capabilities are. If you can admit to your strengths, but more importantly, your weaknesses as an individual, you can take the necessary steps to find a way out of slumps and to grow, adapt and reach your goals.

If you are only showing off your achievements and celebrating your strengths, you are hiding the authenticity in displaying the rough patches and the journey you have gone through to get where you are today. Be truthful, winning is not everything. In fact, conscious growth and betterment of self is probably the greatest form of winning one can look to achieve on a daily basis. This is more important than the external results, keep your focus on the direction of the path you envisioned and remember, something not going well is only part of the process of you becoming a better version of yourself in comparison to the person you were yesterday.

Author: Zaya Mardika

Editor: Michelle Vinita

Editor: Mitchell Hines