This past week I had a really interesting call with a professional soccer player we work with.

The conversation started with him asking me, “Matt, is motivation even real? I mean, I hear everyone talk about how motivated they are to play the game that they love, but truth be told I’m just not feeling it right now.”

Now, for most this would throw them off - they’d get worried and start to wonder what’s wrong with them and why they don’t have any motivation.

But in this specific situation, this actually didn’t surprise me at all - let me explain.

Firstly - this athletes schedule was packed; he had two games this week and had 2 games the previous week (for soccer players, this is a lot).

They were also playing away in all 4 games so they were travelling a day before the game and dealing with time changes - for anyone that’s had to stay in hotels for an extended period of time, you know what it’s like to not sleep in your own bed.

And as a result, naturally, his performances dipped a bit; he didn’t play to his potential in the previous game and he was starting to worry.

So I asked him, “Weird question, but what do you really want from this sport?”

He replied, “Well, I want to play in Europe. I’m right there and I know that I can do it. I’m just exhausted and not feeling it right now.”

So I told asked, “We only have 23 games left this season - do you know what that means?”

He goes, “Well, I guess that’s 23 games left to try and get to a European club.”

I replied, “You got it. That’s only 23 more games to show yourself. 23 more games to either take 23 steps towards going to Europe, or 23 not to. What’s your choice?”

This completely shifted his perspective.

The next game, with some much needed rest and recovery, he ended up getting on the scoresheet and has been doing well ever since.

So, what changed?

First - Understand Why Humans Do What We Do

Every human being does things to avoid pain and gain pleasure.

Meaning: when you see that something could potentially be taken away from you, something that you deeply care about, then you’ll most likely take action whether or not you feel like it.

Now, let’s be clear - I’m not a believer in pushing it when you’re dead tired and injured.

However, I am a believer in leveraging pain and pleasure to get yourself moving when you have no choice.

This was one of those scenarios.

How To Leverage Pain And Pleasure

This is a very simple process, however most athletes don’t know how to do it - here are the simple steps we followed with this pro soccer player, and with all the athletes we work with:

1. Get clear on who and what’s at stake - meaning: like with our soccer player, what’s the long term impact of you taking action? Who’s impacted by your decisions that’s meaningful to you? For our soccer player, it was Europe and his family

2. Get clear on what will happen if you don’t take action to the things that you care about - in 90 days from now, what’ll happen if you don’t take action? For our soccer player, he’d have passed up on an opportunity to go to Europe

3. Get clear on what will happen if you do take action to the things that you care about - in 90 days from now, how much better will your life be if you do take action? For our soccer player, he’d be at a professional trial in Europe and taking a step closer to his dream

How To Use This

Simply put, make this a list you review every day that you don’t feel like taking action.

This will work because it reminds you what’s truly at stake.

Not everyone will feel like taking action, and it’s a bit of a myth that pro athletes always feel like doing something (they don’t).

Instead, they gain leverage over themselves so that they can take action, even on days they don’t feel like it.

If you think in terms of consequences, then everything else will take care of itself.

Stay Resilient

There it is - use leverage as a way to stay locked in!

Now, if you are struggling with your discipline, don’t worry - we’ve got you.

Consider applying for our one on one Difference Maker program for athletes - we take on 2 athletes max per month so long as we can help them.

It’s a 12-week fully immersive program where we give you a resilience profile, a customized program, 3 x monthly one on one coaching sessions, your own Molliteum Coach, 16-hour per day access to your Molliteum Coach, the Molliteum Pocket Coach, AND a blueprint for your parents.

If this sounds like something you need, then click here.

Stay resilient,

Matt Caldaroni

Co-founder, Molliteum