Mindset: Master Your Skills

Last week in our final zoom meeting before training camp in the UFL. Our coach talked about being so good at the fundamentals and what we do that it won’t matter what others do. They won’t be able to stop us. His thoughts were that the previous season the team had spent too much time trying to predict exactly what the other team was doing in order to run certain plays on them. That means if the team did something unexpected then the game plan would have to be scrapped and they would have to rely on the fundamentals. The problem he found was that they didn’t spend enough time on the fundamentals so if a team would give them a different look then what they were expecting then they wouldn’t have an answer for it. I’ve seen a couple coaches throughout my career do this where they design a whole game plan based on what they think the other team is going to do. If the other team decides to do something completely different then it is hard for to adjust if they haven’t practiced the base plays enough. Each team usually has a set number of base plays. These base plays usually have answers for whatever the other team is doing. Basically, there is a win somewhere on the field every time. The defense can never be right as long as everyone does everything correctly. The quarterback will go through different progressions until he finds the open receiver. The last resort is usually the check down route which is usually always open. I would say Tom Brady was a master at the check down. He seemed to go through his progressions lighting fast before checking the ball down to a running back or a tight end for good yardage. It might seem boring but sometimes boring wins. We live in a culture that is addicted to speed and fast results. We want the flashy play that wows the crowd. While those plays are fun to watch and be apart of they only happen at special moments. It is usually after the offense is playing a boring game that the defense starts to take some risks. Then you can deploy those game plan plays that hit for big touchdowns. Just like in life, we have to learn to master a skill that provides some sort of value to the world. Being a master of a skill I believe will be beneficial to you and the world. Too many of us waste our time looking for a big play. We search all over trying one new thing after the next. Am I saying you will never hit big with this method? No, you could get lucky and catch that break you’ve been looking for but overall it’s not the way to live. There is no security in that. Just because you hit big on one lucky gig one time doesn’t guarantee it will work again. The best people I know are the ones that master a skill and are consistent in what they do each day. One thing that I did to get to where I am at was master my athleticism and speed. I trained my speed almost everyday. My claim to fame was my speed and that helped me receive a scholarship and play 6 years so far in the NFL. A lot of what I was given was a talent God had given me but I had to hone in and work on my talent each day in order to master it. God has given each one of us gifts that if we learn to master can have huge financial gains for us and give us a sense of security. No one can take away from you what you have learned on journey. It is up to you to keep mastering yourself and the skills you have. Keep going! Be so good that they can’t deny you!

Questions:

1. What is skills have you mastered?
2. What skill or skills can you master to help you move forward in life?
3. Are you creating the life you want to have or are you letting others and the world dictate things for you?

Photo: Getting a coach is a great way to master your skills. See who is doing what you want to do and learn from them. Picture of me finishing up training with Coach Shu, prepping for the UFL.