Feeling un-motivated?

20 October 2014

I felt very un-motivated to train this past week or two. Some might attribute low motivation to train because of the recent cooler weather and/or that it gets darker quicker (that’s if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, if you don’t, then enjoy the warmer weather!). On second thought, I think what my current problem comes down to having a very busy schedule. I’m investing a lot of energy into life and getting the most out of every single day, and I know a lot of you do too with what you have going on outside of the football field.

There are so many factors that can impact your motivation. A very common one like when you’re busy off the field has an impact on your sleeping and eating habits, and when you’re not doing those two things right, you feel un-motivated. This lead to taking an extra rest day off this week and is something I am working on fixing.

I talk more about what you can do to fix that here.

Drop of Confidence

Reason two of this recent low motivation is how things have gone for me personally the last month. Pre-season was overall pretty good for me, but then around late August/early September when the season began, I wasn’t starting and got put on the bench. This happened despite feeling good, having confidence and playing well.

Then I think my confidence dropped knowing that just like it’s been in the past two years, no matter how well I play in this club, my effort will go un-rewarded. For players who continually feel like their effort is un-rewarded over a number of months, or in my case a number of years! Then that’s when you have to move on. Playing well starts with having a good relationship with your coach, and if you don’t, then you need another coach that believes in you.

I always believe you can do the ‘impossible’ and sure, if I did start scoring three goals every match then things could change.

But to make that happen, there is a very important key to my development now which has to be unlocked. I must build my game intelligence to get to the next level, and that starts through having a good coach that believes in me and can be a source of mentorship towards getting the best out of me. Tactical and mental is just as important as technical and physical skills. If you want to make it far in this game, that’s what you need.

Since I don’t have a good coach available to me right now, it was my goal at the beginning of the season to get my matches recorded. That way I could look back, analyze them and then send them to coaches for feedback. That hasn’t gone quite to plan because in each match this season, I didn’t know if I was starting or not. Why should a friend come if they will only film me playing 10 minutes?

What I have to understand now is to not get down about this situation, and not focusing on the opinions of others. I will focus on my own game, and improving with the resources I have available around me. You can always improve yourself no matter what situation you’re in.

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In 2009, I was an average soccer player with a dream. I started this blog to document my journey from local underdog to getting offered over $100,000 in soccer scholarships, a contract to play professionally and the experience of playing in Europe.
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