1. Indifference/Apathy – There’s no room for these feelings if you want to develop your skills and improve your performance. Always put in 110%.
2. Stubbornness – Being stubborn leads to being uncoachable, which leads to being unsuccessful. Be open-minded and you might be exposed to a new skill or technique that you would’ve otherwise ignored.
3. Pride – It’s ok to be confident in yourself, but don’t let that confidence make you be obnoxious or prideful. Being prideful will lead to silly mistakes and potential embarrassment.
4. Self-Doubt – It’s easy to be overly critical toward yourself. Just focus on the positive things about yourself.
5. Cautiousness – If you’re too hesitant, you miss out on key opportunities and leave room for the other athletes to close the gap. Be a little risky.
6. Perfectionism – Be careful when setting goals because you don’t want to force high expectations on yourself. It’s ok to make mistakes and to continually work on being a better athlete. Lou Holtz said “Life is TEN percent what happens to you, and NINETY percent how you respond to it.” Mistakes are going to happen, they should be viewed as a source of motivation and a means of learning. Plus, when something doesn’t go your way …….the great ones always learn how to respond the right way!
7. Over seriousness – You should compete because you like it and you enjoy it. If you take it too seriously, you lose some of the enjoyment and add extra stress on yourself. At times like this, try to remember why you started playing football in the first place.