5 Steps To Avoid A Recruiting Slump!
In the recruiting process, I've found that regardless of your individual goals there is a series of steps that must be implemented to bring those goals to realization. This is true in life and definitely in your college “recruiting life”
Step 1 - DECLARE THE GOAL (publicly) - Whether your goal is to be earn an athletic scholarship, earn a 4.0 GPA or play professional baseball you must take the first step to go out on a limb and tell the world (or just friends and family) exactly what you intend to accomplish. The single act of verbally expressing a goal or desire breathes life into a concept and transforms it into an obtainable reality. This first step is monumentally important because of the basic fact that if you cannot bring yourself to declare your goal to other people, it shows that you simply don't want that "goal" bad enough. Declaring goals to others also makes it harder for you to slack off or procrastinate. It's much more difficult for you to become weak and slack on your goals if you know other people are keeping track of your progress. All members of Fallon Sports will declare their goal to me.
Step 2 - RECRUIT HELP - A main reason why some people fail to obtain their recruiting goals is because they lose leverage and willpower. This is a long, tedious process full of highs and lows and very easy to give up on or settle. You must enlist the aid of supportive people to provide continuous encouragement throughout your quest to achieve your goal that way you have a much greater chance of actually succeeding. That is one of the benefits I provide my clients, that person to coach and keep you driving forward in the right direction toward your goal. When you recruit help, just don't rely solely on your best friend or parents it's important to get someone who will not let you back off. The magic of this strategy is in the continuous contact with supportive people (me) in every aspect of your recruiting life, which enables you to truly believe that you can accomplish whatever it is you have set out to do. That’s why at Fallon Sports we see several people from the same school all working with Jeff to find the right place to play their sport in college. The idea is that if the people around you are positive and having success in the process, it will help you continue to move forward in the process. Conversely, in other schools where there is no one else bought into the idea of finding the perfect college, it makes it more difficult to see your goals through to the end.
Step 3 - TRANSFORM LONG-TERM GOALS INTO SHORT MISSIONS - In order for you to keep your confidence high while attempting to realize an objective, you must take your long-term goal and break it down into many individual missions. Doing this enables you to continually feel the rush of excitement and satisfaction when a mission is completed rather than consistently experiencing guilt and disappointment when the long-term goal seems so far away and unobtainable regardless of your effort. Here is our Fallon Sports College Planning Example - (Long-Term Goal): "I want to find the perfect college where I can make an immediate impact on the baseball team and earn a degree in Business Management." Example - (Short Missions): "I'm going to contact 30 colleges within the next month and Jeff will follow up with each college coach to help me work those 30 colleges into a realistic top 10 list, complete with 3 long shots, 3 good bets and 4 best bets."
Step 4 - KEEP THE MISSIONS SPECIFIC, TIMED AND WRITTEN - This is the goal setting step that separates the REAL achievers from the excuse makers. All serious goal seekers must keep a strict calendar or planner to schedule their missions and record their progress. If you are truly determined to accomplish your goals you will: A) Schedule the smallest missions by writing them down in a planner or on a calendar. B) Keep the mission schedule short and ultra specific. Example: (just as above) "I'm going to contact 30 colleges within the next month and Jeff will follow up with each college coach to help me work those 30 colleges into a realistic top 10 list, complete with 3 long shots, 3 good bets and 4 best bets. "And more specific – “I am going to contact 8 colleges per week and report each one of those to Jeff every Friday so he can follow up with each coach and see where I stand.
Step 5 - ACT AS IF - No matter what your goals may be, the best way for you to avoid becoming discouraged is to simply act as if you have already achieved it. By "Acting As If" the goal has been accomplished you will naturally assume successful and confident characteristics which will continually reaffirm your positive outlook. Whenever you act the way you want to become, you will most certainly become the way you act. The key to "Acting As If" is in the action. (Read the next sentence 3 times) "Actions change attitudes, movements change moods, and motion changes emotions." Act As If with the body and the mind will follow!
This is obviously taken straight from goal setting 101 but it applies so perfectly with the college recruiting process. It is a tough, beat you up existence when you go through this process, for the player and parents alike, especially if you do it alone. I am here to provide honest, positive and realistic support - knowing the recruiting process like I do is one thing but having a passion for helping people through it and supporting them every step of the way is what separates Fallon Sports from every other option out there.
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