During my past few off-seasons, I have made a point to add some educational value in my life by researching personal finance, taking masters courses, reading leadership books, and seeking ways to be more productive, valuable, and self fulfilling. Through all the books I have read, the most notable being “Linchpin”, “The 4 hour Work Week”, and “The Compound Effect”, I have come up with three themes that have helped reduce my stress levels, become more productive, and motivate me to wake up on most days with a positive outlook.

1. Focus

One thing I have learned is to limit my learning. I know it sounds crazy, you read so many books saying to be a lifetime learner and learn something new every day. In the world of the internet, information is so accessible that we can find the answer to just about anything instantly. But something that hit home with me was the idea of learning less and studying more, which I will elaborate on.  

With five off-seasons under my belt, I have always been asked, “what are you going to do when you are done with football?” I found myself Google-ing business ideas, real estate, finance, mortgage businesses, owning a gym, building houses, coaching, and so on. Aside from being a football player, which is my passion and what I love to do during my current stage of life, I had no idea of what I wanted to do otherwise. 

About five years ago, my brother gave me the book, “Linchpin”, by Seth Godin. One theme he emphasized in the book was specialization. I realized that if I wanted to own a gym, be a financial advisor, and build houses, I probably wouldn’t be the best at any one of them because they are totally unrelated fields. There is a reason why some trainers are the best, home builders have great reputations, and advisors have clients raving about them; because they specialize and dedicate their lives to perfecting their craft. 

One would think I would have learned this from my own habits. As a professional athlete, I eat like a nutritionist, invest in a personal trainer, stretch like a yogi, and study football as much as a coach to be the best player I can be. By narrowing my focus, I have succeeded in current goals. And by creating goals that are in line with my focus, I find myself waking up with more motivation and drive to reach my goals every day. By learning about less and studying more about what you know or want to know, you will find yourself as an expert. Experts are becoming harder and harder to come by because of the internet. Everyone is an expert, when they can Google it. When you know something off of the top of your head because of constant study and experience, you are an expert.

2. Compound Effect

Sometimes during a long stretch of a season, routine tasks and habits can become monotonous which in turn caused me to get in a rut.  I found myself drowning in social media to pass the time and came to the realization that I was not being very productive on a daily basis. This past year, I read the book, “The Compound Effect”, by Darren Hardy. I thought this was going to be a book about finances and the magical effect of compounding interest, but it was more about the compound effect on life in general. It taught me that the smallest changes in your life, over time can create the biggest impacts.

One example they gave in the book and one that I know a friend tried when attempting to lose weight was to eat a healthier breakfast. Something as simple as replacing a bagel with a piece of fruit in the morning caused my friend to lose 10-15 pounds over the span of six months. It is the little things like this that can cause you to feel better about your appearance, have more energy, and in turn become more productive on a daily basis.   

One for me was to eliminate social media (Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat) from my iPhone. Although I follow many news outlets on Twitter and find the information mildly valuable, I found myself looking down at my phone more than I was talking to my teammates, friends, and family. I replaced my social media apps with a Wall Street Journal subscription to get more relevant news and have since found myself worrying less about irrelevant news stories and more in tune with everyday life. Sadly enough, this change in my life has caused me to notice even more how much people look at their phones all day. By taking this step back from what is becoming the norm, I’m realizing that I am not the only one who is being distracted by everyone else’s life. 

This minor change in my life has helped clear my mind of irrelevant information, allowing me to be more focused on the goals I have for myself and more importantly, becoming better friends with the people that I am physically with on a daily basis instead of my Facebook friends who I may not even talk to anymore. This might seem like an insignificant change and something that might not directly increase my productivity in business or my profession, but does increase my emotional gratification through daily interaction.

3. Friends

Lastly, one common theme that you will read about in most business success books is that you become the average of your five closest friends. This might seem a little harsh in terms of your relationships, but if these relationships are having a negative effect on your goals, then it would prove to be an essential move if you are looking to make a positive change in your life.

If you want to be successful (a term defined differently by everybody), you will keep in touch with the people who have the values that you are seeking to improve. If your goal is to be a better father, you do your best to keep in touch with your friend who you know is a great Dad. Same goes with business, if you are looking to become a better leader of your company, you grab lunch with your college roommate who is a great speaker and communicator to learn what he or she is doing to differentiate themselves in the workplace. 

If your goal is to make a change in your life, look at your closest friends and see if their goals are aligned in a similar fashion as yours. If they are not, then they might be making it more difficult for you to reach your goals.

Mercyhurst football coach Tom Herman once told me that, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result”. In order to get results, you must be willing to make a change, even if it seems insignificant. Coaches have told me my whole life that football is a game of inches, which means that the smallest change in technique, angle of pursuit, ball placement, and so on will win you games in the long run. “Real life” as I call it, can certainly be looked at in the same way.