Athletes Who Only Work Hard in Practice Are Wasting Their Time
We all love to romanticize the idea of being the hardest worker in the room, on the court, or on the field. It’s easy to assume that the athlete who works hardest in practice is the hardest worker. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Working hard in practice is a waste of time if you don’t work just as hard at identifying a purpose for that hard work. Obviously, this is not some new insight. In fact, it’s 2000-year-old Stoic wisdom from Marcus Aurelius. He states:
People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse towards are wasting their time – even when hard at work.
Athletes challenging themselves to be their best must not ignore this age-old warning. Hard work must have a purpose, or it will have no purpose. Moreover, the time to identify that purpose is not during practice.