What a sporting weekend! First, we went to see one of my athletes play at Michigan State. She battled hard (I was so proud of her), however her team eventually fell to a more confident Nebraska team. Michigan State is a young and extremely talented team this year, which bodes well for their future. The one thing I saw they were missing is that they could have that future now, if they chose. What I saw was missing was their killer instinct – they were ok with being almost good enough right now!
How often do we as athletes look forward to the future, when we’ll be good enough, have that added experience, will have developed our skills to the level we think is necessary? What most of us forget most of the time is the opportunity for a Cinderella story – for our attitude and grit to cause us to out perform a much more experienced and skilled opponent! We’re often so busy waiting for things to be perfect and wishing that the future was now, that we miss our opportunity in the present moment. In the words of Master Oogway of Kung Fu Panda:
Yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present!
All you have is what you have right now. You cannot change what you have right now. Yes, you can continue to grow and develop to be stronger, faster, better in the future, however that will not help how you play right now. So, what there is to do is embrace what you have right now and give all of it, every last inch. And to bring a Champion Mindset to the table, the attitude of the winner, a killer instinct.