Ego is the Worst Enemy of a Player
Often what comes in our way is not our skills or our lack of strength but our very own ego. If you can’t keep it in check you will hold yourself back from becoming the champion athlete.
Why do some players have an ego while playing?
The answer is simple. When you think you are invincible and you have got here all by yourself, nothing can touch you, is when your ego is high. Having a high ego is correlated with a high self-esteem and inflated sense of self. Now, there is nothing wrong with a high self-esteem. In fact, we need high self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-belief, to be able to give our best performance. But when we ignore factors that might be challenging to us, when we overlook threats, when we don’t focus on acknowlegding and building on our weaknesses, that is when self-belief because falsely inflated and is known as having an ego. When you cannot find mistakes in yourself, do not respond well to criticism, become overly defensive, or do not listen to the advice of your coaches, mentors, and people more experienced than you, is when ego will hamper your game and you will not be able to reach your highest potential of becoming the best athlete.
How do you get rid of your Ego?
How do keep your ego in check? Here are some things to keep in mind to keep your ego in check. A little self-analysis will work.
- Remind yourself of your limitations. You have a lot of strengths, but there is always somebody who might be smarter, faster, stronger, sharper – try to learn from them.
- Remind yourself of the importance of your team. You might have the best individual skills, but without the support of your team you cannot achieve greatnes. The strength of the team is not judged by the strength of the strongest player but by the weakest link of the team. You are defined by the team, work with each other.
- Remind yourself of something bigger, the spirit of the game that brings you to the field. The sport is bigger than your individual glory. Sport is meant to bring people togther, inspire hope and change, uplift people and nations. Your individual success pales in comparison to this greater glory.
- Remind yourself of your support system. Even the best athletes are nothing without the support of their teammates, coach, fans, parents, family, and support staff. You’re only here because someone believed in you and gave you that chance. Someone saw something in you and invested in you. Trained you, watched you rise from your first game.
All team sports require team effort, equal contribution, communication, humility, respect, mindfulness, and to play with each other and not against each other.
