Is It Worth It??? What to do if you are worried about your hard work not paying off

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Is It Worth It??? What to do if you are worried about your hard work not paying off

“What if my hard work is not paying off???”

Have you ever asked yourself that before?

“I am putting in countless hours training my skills, strength, and conditioning, but I’m worried I am not getting any better!!!”

Have you ever experienced that before?

“When the season rolls around, and I’m not any better, I’m going to feel like a FAILURE and I WASTED all that time, attention, and energy, and may never be the athlete I thought I could be!!!”

Have those thoughts ever raced through your mind before?

Look, I understand …

I struggled with this a lot during my athletic career, so today we are going to talk about:

What to do if you are worried about your hard work not paying off.

Throughout my athletic career, I trained a lot,

But often worried my hard work may not be paying off.

I recall one off-season …

I was training 2-3 times per day on my:

• Skills
• Strength
• Conditioning

In my free time, I was:

• Watching my nutrition
• Training my mind
• Making sure I was getting to bed at a good time to enhance my recovery

But I was still afraid I was not doing enough, and worried I was not getting better.

As the off-season was winding down, and the season was drawing nearer …

These feelings began to grow and swell within me.

Finally, when the whistle blew to begin the first game of the year …

I let all the feelings go in SURRENDER.

As a result:

• I had one of my best performances of my career up until that point
• I helped lead our team from behind to victory
• I could sigh with relief, confidence, and assurance that my hard work had paid off, and I was becoming the player I knew I could be

As athletes, many times we struggle with worrying our hard work is paying off.

We spend countless hours in the gym and on the practice field, training our:

• Skills
• Strength
• Conditioning

However, we are not sure if we are getting better.

And, if we don’t get better by the time the season rolls around …

We can feel like a FAILURE and that we WASTED all that time, attention, and energy. And maybe …

We feel like we will never become the athlete we thought we could be.

Many times, when faced with these emotions, we approach our training like …

A child planting a garden.

They plant their seeds and for the first few days, they check to see if they grow.

After the first few days or weeks not seeing the seeds growing or sprouting, they give up believing they’ll never grow.

Or when they finally see the seed beginning to sprout they try to pull it up, but end up damaging its roots and killing it in the process.

However, The experienced farmer takes a different approach.

They plant their seeds, work the soil, and water them.

Then they sit back, with patience, and trust Nature will enable the crops to grow and sprout in the proper timing.

The experienced athlete approaches their training in a similar way.

They put in the time, attention, and energy training their skills, strength, and conditioning. They watch their nutrition, train their mind, and enhance their recovery.

But then, they sit back, with patience, and trust Life will enable their gifts to grow and sprout in the proper timing.

And that’s the ingredient that will help you to have a relaxed confidence and assurance that your hard work is paying off.

Put in the work …

But then, sit back, with patience, and trust Life will enable your gifts to grow and sprout in the proper timing.

The same is true for opportunities in your life beyond your game.

You will have a dream, a vision, a calling.

You will put in the work to pursue that dream:

• Mastering your craft
• Surrounding yourself with people to assist you in your pursuit of your dream
• Creating opportunities so you can walk through doors that will guide you to your dream

And weeks, months, and years may go by and your dream may not come.

However, once you put in the work …

Sit back, with patience, because Life will enable your dream to grow and sprout …

In the proper timing.

I wish you well on your journey of being patient and trusting Life will reward your hard work, and I look forward to seeing you next week.

Inspiring YOU every step of your way,

Kyle