Why is it that when one thing goes wrong, everything seems to fall apart. For example, the hottest day of the summer is the day that you just so happened to forget to bring some water to the courts, you didn’t get a good night’s rest, you didn’t have clean clothes to practice in, and you didn’t get a chance to get a good breakfast because you overslept and had to rush to the courts to be able to get some reps in before work. If there was ever a day to phone it in, it would be today. Sure, you wrote down that you were going to get your 100 serves in everyday to be ready for the next season, but today you have an excuse to sleep in and settle for 20 serves and some light stretching. After all, is sleep not important? Why not just do extra serves tomorrow? It’s just a bad day, and you can always do more tomorrow.
This sort of rationalization is something that we all go through. It is the kind of logic that allows you to settle for a one mile run instead of the three mile run that you set out to get. It allows you to settle for a little extra sleep when you should be getting up to get to work. The problem with these sorts of excuses is that it always seems like this is a special occasion. Like, if everything didn’t go bad, then you would’ve had no problem putting in the work. But, how can you expect to put forth effort when you didn’t get enough sleep, you’re hungry, game seven is on tonight, it is too hot outside, and the McRib is back for a limited time only? The problem with this sort of logic is that this particular moment is not special no matter how much you want to believe it is. These excuses are always going to be there. You have to have a plan of action in place for when the excuses arise. That is when you need your motivational button.
A motivational button is a tool that you can use when there are a million reasons not to put in the work, but all you need is one reason to ignore those million reasons. Is there a particular song, movie scene, or memory of your favorite player winning the US Open title for the first time? Use whatever that source of motivation is to fuel you to keep going. Let it light a fire underneath you to inspire you to get up and get your serves in, go for that run, or work on your backhand even though you do not want to do it. Find the motivation to ignore all of the excuses. All you have to do is push the button!