I want to talk today about making training harder on yourself than it has to be.
To start off – I’m an absolute believer in the idea that the harder you practice, the better your results will be. This is not an excuse to slack off or to not try. However, sometimes in order to improve and to keep working and focusing, you have to be smart about your strategy.
I’m going to use weight loss as an example really quick. Every year, millions of people start off the beginning of the year with a resolution saying that they’re going to lose a ton of weight. They say that they’re going to completely change the way they eat, they’re going to go from not exercising at all to working out hard every day of the week, and they’re going to lose 50 pounds by starving themselves if they have to.
What happens?
99% of them give up within 2 weeks.
Why is that?
It’s not because these people weren’t motivated. They had a dream, and they wanted to make it happen. It wasn’t that they didn’t want it bad.
The thing was, their strategy was flawed.
Everyone has a limited amount of willpower each day. Making choices, having self control, and choosing to do things that are difficult are not easy things to do, and each time you make a choice to do them, you use up some of that willpower.
If you fill your schedule with constant tough choices and make choosing to work towards your goal every day difficult, you will burn out and quit. Most people can’t go from 0 workouts a day to working for an hour and a half every day on their ball control. You have to develop your willpower by starting more slowly, then working your way up.
There is a program out there right now for ball control that’s very advanced – it’s basically several thousand touches a day for a hundred days, totaling about half a million touches on that ball. It’s not a bad program, but it’s also not for beginners. Most people will not last the hundred days working on that program, so while it’s a great plan that will make you better, it’s not all that useful if you can’t finish it.
Instead – if you’re just starting out – pick something you’ll actually do. Here’s what I recommend – for the next 30 days, just spend 15 minutes a day with a ball. Juggle. Do individual ball control drills. Shoot on goal. Just get touches on the ball.
Dedicate yourself to that and that alone. Don’t make it complicated. Make it as simple as throwing on some music and stepping outside with a ball. Make the choice easy on yourself!
After those 30 days are up, then look back and see what else you need to work on. By then, you’ve made working with a ball every day a habit. Then start to dial in on specific skills.
Start with just getting out there. Make it easy on yourself. Don’t make the choice so hard that you give up.
The only bad workout is one that didn’t happen!
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