The only disability in life is a bad attitude! For years my belief has been your attitude is the key to start your day! Below are some points I read in a book back in 2006 (Mental Toughness Training for Football, Mike Voight).
PROFESSIONAL ATTITUDE VS. MEDIOCRE ATTITUDE
THE MAJOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE TWO IS HOW YOU PERCEIVE WORKOUTS/PRACTICE. Some players view workouts/practice as an opportunity to play and improve, which denotes an internally driven motivation mainly within the players control. Others, however, perceive workouts/practice as something that is “done to them” signifying an externally driven motivation that is out of a player’s control.
If a player has a mediocre attitude, his effort in workouts will fluctuate depending upon mood, whether or not he likes the activity, or an external motivation. Workouts are something that “coach does to me” or “what is he going to do to us today?” Players with this mindset go through the motions, put their time in, and just want to complete the day and leave. This player is usually hard to coach or “uncoachable”.
If a player has a professional attitude, they view workouts as an opportunity for improvement and refinement, not something “forced” on to them. Players with this mindset take more responsibility for their performance by holding themselves accountable to pre-set standards of execution. This player puts in maximal effort on all exercises, drills and conditioning. This player listens to coaching and then puts it into action.
Professional attitude players tend to be motivated by internal desires to improve and perform better than their last performance, thus increasing their motivation and work rate to do all they can in practice to ensure this occurs.
Mediocre attitude players tend to be motivated by external agents (praise, big game, crowd, accolades, media), yet, in the absence of these agents, motivation is lacking, as is the case in practice settings. These players usually consider themselves “gamers” and do not feel it important to give maximal effort in training. These “gamers” believe thay can just turn on their top performances like a light without having to put in the work in practice. Although these players might be quite talented and succeed come game time, their consistency of play will not be as sharp and there long term progress may be jeopardized by lack of consistent, quality practice.
Ask yourself these questions:
How can I/we get better today?
What will I/we accomplish today?
WHAT IS YOUR ATTITUDE?