“Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.” – Bo Jackson

What do you want today versus what you want three years from now?

That’s a familiar and crucial question in every football player’s life. Short-term desires tend to dominate what happens to you throughout a football mental game, because life is immediate–it’s always happening right now. Long-range goals are different, not because they lie far ahead in the future but because what you do right now isn’t the same as fulfilling a short-term desire.

The chief obstacle to consciously building a future for yourself is focusing on the torrent of small things that will fill your mind unless you free yourself.

The future unfolds one day at a time, so unless you make time for the future before it arrives, a year from now you will be doing basically the same as what you’re doing today.

Making time for the future comes down to four steps since they lay the groundwork for fulfilling long-range goals.

Long-term goals can be a great motivator for self-improvement.

They give you objectives that you can strive to achieve on a 1 to 3 year period. Everyone should have at least one long-term goal in place that they wish to achieve. These goals can give you a general idea of what direction you want your life to go in.

However, long-term goals aren’t the only type of goal you should set.

Mid-term goals are just as important for achieving your goals and improving your football mental game. Mid-term goals (6 months to 1 year objectives) can allow you to stay on track toward achieving your long-term goals.

Medium Term Goals should be the result of an individual/team achieving or completing a task because of consistently satisfying the requirements of their short-term goals. An example of a medium term goal is when a player increases the distance from two to four kilometers at the end of the first months training.

Short Term Goals (1 to 6 months) and immediate goals (1 day to 1 week) should be developed with a finite amount of time in mind. These goals should be the easiest to achieve in regards to minimal time allocated to the task. This may include for instance an individual player aiming to improve their running time over three kilometers by five seconds each week. This goal during seasonal competition can then be aimed for each week and achieved within this time.

Every vision brings setbacks and frustrations in your football mind; there is inherent stress whenever you step out to accomplish something no one else has tried before. No amount of self-discipline can control the stress. Only if you are centered, self-confident, and secure in the values you are sacrificing for will the journey become conscious.

In the current environment, inner visions are celebrated only after someone has struggled to reach the top. Along the way, there is more competition than collaboration, and if you don’t enter the fight people may view you weak although it may not be true. We live in the midst of huge abundance.

Sit down with yourself, your family, your closest confidants, and work through the previous four criteria outlined. They will serve you well if you truly dedicate yourself to improving your football mind and football confidence.

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