“Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.” ― Lou Holtz

For many athletes attempting to maximize their athletic abilities, skill acquisition seems to be a much easier proposition than having the motivation and resiliency needed to succeed.

In simpler terms, it seems much easier for an athlete to learn a sport skill than it does to be motivated every day, as well as successfully deal with frustration and adversity that usually happens quite regularly in the pursuit of greatness.

Football mental toughness, while sometimes overlooked, is perhaps the most important mental skills an athlete can develop in order to reach athletic greatness.

Most young football players don’t know the importance of having intrinsic motivation. They do not know the importance of having passion and purpose in football and life; to be dedicated to the nth degree, and to have specific targets to shoot for in the big picture of football.

Without intrinsic motivation, it is extremely difficult to truly reach your full potential in life.

You also must learn that it is vitally important to clearly state goals and dedicate your life toward your goals if you want to truly achieve great things in football.

Athletes with passion and purpose literally love being engaged in all aspects of their training.

Of course, you may complain under the hot sun of a 2-a-day football workout, but in the big picture you will appreciate all the hard work that goes into excelling in your sport.

To be clear – having passion and purpose does not imply you will love every moment of training, but instead suggests that you have the heart and motivation to push through the tough times.

Resiliency is seemingly hard-wired into your DNA, and you understand and accept that you will take your lumps along your way to greatness.

Stress and failure are actually accounted for in the passionate football mind, and therefore quickly (and successfully) dealt with efficiently.

When you do not have passion and purpose, it tends to show through during tough times.

Take for example when you are playing well – everything is great and you seem to play effortlessly. But what happens when a slump occurs? Without passion and purpose, the typical response is to give in to the pressure and stress, and/or begin to point fingers away from yourself and onto just about anything else.

Research on sports psychology for football suggests that receiving a reward for a particular behavior sends a certain message about what players have done and controls, or attempts to control, their future behavior. The more they experience being controlled, the more they will tend to lose interest in what they are doing.

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