Your #1 Opponent

Hey guys, Alex here. As you guys know, we talk about how to get better on and off the field on this channel and how to optimize our recruiting process to put ourselves in the best possible chance to play at the next level, to play in college. But today we're going to be talking about competition and your number one opponent. You need to become hyper aware and study this opponent, your number one opponent. Because if you do, you are going to be so far ahead of everybody else, especially if you're a teenager. But it doesn't really matter what age you are. The sooner that you can understand this opponent, the better you're going to be off in recruiting, on the field, off the field, and just in life in general. Your opponent can be harsh and frankly, it can be ruthless. But at the same time, it can be your best friend. It can prevent you from doing things that you should be doing, amazing things that you could be doing. But at the same time, it can help you get through things that are so hard and so difficult that, that you were able to overcome. It can say things like, you're not good enough. You're going to look ridiculous to everybody. Don't raise your hand and ask that question. Don't raise your hand and volunteer. It's going to be too much work, it's going to take too much time and it can be less harsh. You can just be like, hey, no, just take a day off. It's okay to be lazy, but then again it can push you, it can help you. It can say you are good enough. It is going to be hard work, but it's going to be worth it in the end. It help the team volunteer for that thing. And don't ever, ever quit. You spend every day and every night with your number one opponent. And your number one opponent is you. It is your mind, it is your head. It is those voices that are talking to you on a daily, hourly, minute and even second basis, telling you what to do, influencing you what to do, whether it's negative or whether it's positive. So are you aware, are you paying attention to, to your mind and how you think? Are you paying attention to the voices and how they respond and how they react to external factors? You should be. You need to be studying your mind. Think of it this way. It's the angel on one shoulder and it's the devil on the other. And maybe that devil side is saying things like, hey, going to do this? You know, it's probably not the right thing to do and you're probably not going to Even get caught. Okay? And the other side is like, hey, no, no, no, we better not do this because there are consequences to this situation and it's right thing to do. And of course, there's other sides to it where it's not that dramatized, if you will. It's like, hey, you need to go to this practice, you need to go get these extra reps in because it's going to help you. Or it's the other side saying, hey, no, just sit back on the couch, watch three hours of Netflix. You can skip a day, right? It's those sides. You need to be aware and you need to step back, detach from the situation and understand what are the consequences of you either doing something or not doing something. Okay, hey, if you got anything from this video so far, please click that like and thumbs up button and subscribe. I put out a weekly video. All right, let's get into an important question. Let me ask you a question. Do you pay attention to your mind like you do your body? Do you train your mind like you do your body? I know most of us, we look in the mirror, we check out our body, our body composition, how our muscles look, our abdomens look, how maybe our backside looks. Okay? Hey, we check it out, we're very aware of our body and we try to train our body to make sure we're getting the most out of it. Do we do that for our mind? Most of us know I only recently started doing this a couple years ago and I'm still very well on this journey. But it has changed my life. There is no doubt about it, of how I respond to certain things, how I make decisions, decisions because I detach myself. Let's get into that. What if you could think better? What if you could make better decisions? What if you could think ahead and anticipate situations and decisions, right? And you're not going to get, of course you're not going to understand and know all of that. But again, you can think ahead of whether it's situational awareness, whether you're walking into a game, whether you're walking into a class, whether you know what's going on or about to know what's going on. And also understand there's always a wild card, right? There's always a wild card. Don't. But you being centered and not being so reactive to situations. What if you could be better at all of that, Right? Because I know in the past I've thought about, hey, when I either made a decision, I've done something or I've Said something I've no doubt have said, whether it's right after the fact, whether it's day, a week, a month after the fact of saying, I wish I would have reacted differently. And most of the time when you have that and you react better, you can take a step back and you're not so reactive, meaning you don't respond right away because you feel either you have to respond or you're responding emotionally. Okay? And I'm not saying emotions are bad, but it can get you in trouble. There's no doubt about it. So how do we get better at all of this? Let's dive into that. This is the easiest way, okay? And we're going to get into the hardest way here in a minute. But the easiest way is to understand and be aware of your past and how you have responded to certain situations in the past and how you can get better. Hey, confront that. No doubt you are not perfect. You've made mistakes, just like I've made a ton of mistakes. But how we get better is understanding those mistakes, why we made, maybe have done that. Whether it was, again, emotional, whether it was from a selfish point of view, whether it was an entitlement type of role, and it didn't maybe even have really much to do with the other person, the other situation, okay? That is the easiest we need to become aware, okay? The hardest is being in the moment when things are actually happening, right? When you are in the thick of it, being aware of that, that is usually the hardest part. Because again, we can be super reactive, quick, triggered to certain things. But if we can take a step back, get triggered like I'm in this situation, I understand this, I'm about to respond this way. But let's go back, let's respond this way. Let's think ahead. If I make this decision, if I do this act, if I say this, this is going to be probably, potentially the outcome is that good or bad, right? That can all run through your head in a matter of a second to two seconds, okay? But you need to be aware. Start thinking of how you think, right? And whether it is helping you or hurting you, whether it is your enemy and your worst opponent or. Or your best friend. So what are some things that we can do to help our awareness? Right? Well, if it comes down to studying, you need to study yourself, you need to study your thoughts, you need to observe your thoughts, okay? And this takes hard work. Just like it takes hard work to get physically fit, to become better in our sport, to become better at a skill set. Hey, it's the same thing with our mind. But you need to allocate more time to this, okay? And to your mind, trust me, it is going to pay off if you do this. So what can you do? One we talked about studying just being more aware of your thoughts, but also write down your thoughts, journal about your thoughts, journal about your day before you go to bed or if something happened, how do you respond? And again, you're not going to be perfect. You're going to continue to make mistakes. But if we can lessen those mistakes, we are making mistakes. Progress, right? If we are becoming more aware of what's going on and our thoughts and reacting better to situations, we are getting better. Write this stuff down. Also, ask somebody you trust. Ask somebody you trust maybe that responds well and that you respect. Or ask them, hey, how do I come off sometimes? Ask your mom and dad, they love you more than anything. Ask them, hey, how do you respond? Maybe be a little bit vulnerable and I know this is hard for especially teenagers and men in general, but it's good to ask questions so you can be more aware that you can study as we move forward. So maybe ask how you respond and how you become better at decision making and awareness and listen to people that you trust again and that you value their opinion. Hey, if you get anything from this video, please select that like and subscribe button. I put out a weekly video again on just self development which was this week, but also recruiting, which I do a lot of and I'll see you in the next video.