I was having a conversation with my wife recently, ranting about certain things in life being hard.
“Brandt, choose your hard,” she said, interrupting me mid-sentence. At first, I was so confused as to what she meant by that. “Choose your hard? What do you mean?,” I asked.
She then illustrated her point with several examples:
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“Setting goals is hard. Not having any goals to work toward is hard. Choose your hard.”
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“Getting out of your comfort zone is hard. Not pushing yourself is hard. Choose your hard.”
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“Practice is hard. Not working to get better at your craft is hard. Choose your hard.”
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“Getting fit is hard. Being unfit is hard. Choose your hard.”
As she ran through the examples, I was so impressed with how powerful and true that concept really is! No matter what we choose to do in life, there will always be hard times that come with it.
The big question we need to ask ourselves is, “What motivates me to make those hard times worth it?”
For me, it’s always been striving to be the best soccer player I can be, and making those who believed in me proud. Setting goals, getting out of my comfort zone, practicing when my body was sore, and doing those extra sprints are never an easy task. But they make ALL the difference.
Doing the easy thing may feel good in the short term, but almost never pays off in the long run.
I encourage you to reflect on some of the habits that may be holding you back from reaching your maximum potential, on and off the field. Once you’ve identified those habits, determine what changes you need to make. And then, focus on taking it one day at a time as you set out to build new and better habits.
After all, nothing worthwhile in life comes easy!
So, CHOOSE YOU HARD!
Brandt Bronico
Charlette FC + Soccer Resilience® Ambassador
P.S. We at Soccer Resilience® would love to help you take your game to the next level! We know what it takes to get there, and we’ll take the guesswork out of mental training for you. Give us a shout! (wells@soccerresilience.com, (336)575-3324)
