In life, you are either going to be the one who gets things done, or you’re not. It is that simple truth that holds the key to a great athletic career. If you are an athlete, who is simply waiting for your time to come without proactively getting there you are missing a big aspect of this game. The hammer symbolizes the person who gets work done. Who rather than waits on opportunities to arise goes out and makes them happen. The hammer is the person who is constantly on the offense. Seeking out things to do, destroying every goal and aspect possible. Much like the tool they are hard, resilient. And are willing to smash anything put in front of them. Most people live their entire life just being the nail.
The Nail
The nail is the opposite of the hammer. This is the athlete who waits for things to come to him or her. They continuously are passive on their goal; they are the likable athlete. Everyone loves the nail because they do not disrupt the order of things. They are the perennial backup or the punching bag. They’ve got goals but are too afraid to do what it takes to get them done. Continually folding under the pressure of getting the work done they are always leaning on the safer side of the coin. These are the athletes who are afraid to step outside of their shell and show the world just how much potential they have.
The nail wants to be friends with everyone but never wants to put their own goal or aspirations at the forefront. They do not want to be seen in a bad light. Their reputation as the good guy or girl is more important than really gaining the attention they probably truly deserve.
Make A Choice for Your Athletic Career
Being a hammer or a nail is a choice. You are not more genetically predisposed to being one or the other. You can be either. OR both. Many athletes don’t realize that being the nice guy sometimes is beneficial. However, when it comes to making strides in your athletic career, you need to do whatever it takes to get to that position. As long as what you are doing in both moral and ethical.
Being the hammer is going to take you losing friends. It will give you a reputation you may not want. It will also cause you to have to work harder than you ever had to do before. Where being the nail is going to bring you lots of friends, make you likable, and increase your social status. However the nail never really gets good at their sport merely because they are not taking steps to get to the pinnacle of it. The nail gets smoked by the hammer every time.
Again the choice is yours as the athlete on how you want your career to be. It is not up to your coaches or your therapists. Your parents have no part in it either. You are solely responsible for how you act on the programs built for you, your recovery protocol, and even the food you eat. You decide!
Being The Hammer
There are levels to being a hammer. You need to have the mindset first and foremost. That is you need to have yourself in mind first. Now you may say “I’m not selfish.” That would be a fair statement to make. This is not some self-serving prophecy. The fact that you are making sure your athletic career is coming first is only going to serve others moving forward. You need to get it done to help the team on the back end. Hammers are the stars on the field. The captains of the team. They know how to turn on the aggression and when to back off and be the leader.
Once you have gained the mindset of being a hammer. You can now apply that same mindset to the rest of your athletic development. Your coaches are going to write your programs and protocols. If you have the mindset of a hammer, you’re going to apply everything you got into those plans and contracts. You’re going to get that work done and asking for more when it is done. You are going to be what the military calls a hard charger. Someone who goes hard on all things asked of them.
Becoming a hammer is going to improve your athletic career significantly. If that has not been made clear as of yet, I apologize. However getting passionate about the sport you play is the first step to getting that mindset. You need to love what you’re doing to gain that hammer mentality. If you are doing something, you loathe you are going to find it hard to apply that mindset to what you are doing.
Take Ownership
Remember when it comes to being an athlete it is always more important to be the hammer. Do not wait for something great to happen for you. You need to go out and get that done on your own. You must take ownership of your success as an athlete. No one is going to do it for you. You are the one who is going to get it done.
No one is lifting the weight for you; not a single person is going to do the conditioning work for you. Your coaches are not about to learn the playbook for your either.All of these things are going to rest on your shoulders as a productive athlete. Do not sit around waiting for the best things in your career to come. They simply will not without your intervention. Get up and get after it. Plain and simple!
KHO Health was acquired by was acquire by 9INE POINT in the summer of 2019 and is now referred to as 9INE POINT Health.
