8 Questions Every Football Player Needs to Answer Before This Season
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The video presents an eight-point checklist designed to help football players and coaches evaluate their performance across every practice, workout, film session, and game. The speaker emphasizes that if individuals can honestly check off each item by the end of the season, they will be highly satisfied with their results in January. These criteria go beyond simple punctuality; instead, they demand being early, fully prepared, giving maximum effort, maintaining a positive attitude, remaining coachable, acting as a great teammate, improving personally, and contributing to the team's overall success. The core message is that consistently meeting these standards creates an environment where winning at a high level becomes the only possible outcome.
Central to this philosophy is the idea that one must behave like a champion every single day, both on and off the field, rather than only when it feels convenient. Excellence is described not as a switch that can be turned on or off based on mood, but as a permanent state of being that serves as the foundation for all aspects of life. The speaker draws a sharp distinction between waiting and preparing, noting that while most people wait for opportunities to happen, elite performers actively prepare mentally, physically, and emotionally for every task. Whether it is arriving at the weight room or engaging in film study, the mindset must shift from passive waiting to active preparation, which acts as a crucial separator between average and exceptional athletes.
Another key habit highlighted is the ability to be a "finisher," a trait that distinguishes the elite from everyone else who merely starts things. Finishing is presented as a discipline that requires maintaining full alertness and focus throughout an entire session, whether it lasts fifteen minutes or twenty. The speaker argues that conditioning oneself to finish small tasks in the weight room or during practice drills directly translates to the ability to finish big games, particularly in the critical fourth quarter. This consistency builds the mental toughness necessary to complete seasons and overcome adversity when it matters most.
To reinforce these habits, the video concludes with a nightly reflection exercise where players ask themselves if they are willing to trade their twenty-four hours for the progress made that day. Since time cannot be regained, this question forces an honest assessment of daily productivity and integrity. If the answer is yes, it leads to restful sleep; if no, it serves as a lesson to avoid repeating mistakes tomorrow while remaining grateful for another chance to improve. Ultimately, making excellence the standard in every area of life builds the character required to become a true champion who finishes strong and leaves everything on the field.
Read the full video transcript
So, there's a checklist, and I see a lot
[music] of you taking notes, which is
awesome. I want you to write this
checklist down. This checklist, and this
is for players and coaches.
I'm going to tell you now,
if every single person in this room can
check [music] off everything I'm about
to say, every workout, every practice,
every film session, and every [music]
game,
you guys are going to be really happy at
the end of this season. I can't
guarantee it. I can't promise it, but
I've done this long enough to know if
you do what I'm about to ask you to do,
and you can check this off at the
[music] end of every practice, workout,
film session, and game, you guys are
going to be very happy
come come January. [music]
The first is, was I early?
I'm not asking if you're on time. You
better be on time, but [music] I believe
in being early. I I come I have
old-school values. I think if you're on
time, you're late.
Was I early? Number two, was I prepared?
Number three, did I give my best effort?
Number four, did I have my best
attitude?
>> [music]
>> Number five, was I coachable?
Number six, was I a great teammate?
Number seven, did I get better?
And number eight, did I make us better?
Every single person in this room, if you
can check every one of those things off
with every [music] single team activity
you have, the only byproduct even
possible is to win, and to win at a very
[music] high level. Behave like a
champion now.
Before you can become a champion,
you have to act like a champion. You
have to behave like a champion. You have
to show up like a champion, [music] but
you have to do it every
single
day.
You have to do it on the field. You have
to do it off the field.
See, behaving like a champion is not
[music] something you have the luxury of
doing when you feel like it, or when you
want to, or when it's convenient. it has
to be something that you do on and off
the field [music] in every area of your
life every
single
day. See, excellence is not a switch
[music] that we turn on and off.
Excellence has to be a switch that is
permanently on.
And when you make [music] excellence
your standard, again, in every area of
your life, when you make excellence your
[music] standard, that now becomes the
foundation to which everything in your
life is built. And this goes far beyond
[music] just the game of football. There
is a huge difference between waiting
and preparing.
The overwhelming majority of human
beings just [music] wait for things to
happen.
The elite prepare for things to happen.
Do you wait [music] for practice to
start or do you prepare for practice to
start?
Do you wait to go see Matt in the weight
room or do you prepare, mentally and
physically and emotionally, to go to
[music] the weight room? Do you wait for
film session or are you doing things to
prepare for the film session?
When you learn the difference between
waiting and preparing, it's a huge
[music] separator. It's a game changer.
Something else that massively
contributes to [music] winning is
becoming a finisher.
You've got to finish.
And finishing is a habit. Everyone in
the world starts stuff, that doesn't
[music] make you special.
Only the elite finish.
I want you to finish reps in the weight
room, finish workouts, finish plays on
the practice field, finish practices,
[music]
finish film sessions. What does
finishing a film session means? It means
you're just as alert and present and
focused in minute 15 [music] as you were
in minute one.
Anyone can pay attention for 1 minute.
Can you be locked in for 15 minutes or
20 minutes or however long your film
sessions are? Learn how to finish. And
when you learn how to finish in the
small [music] things, then you condition
yourself to finish in the big things.
Because ultimately the goal is to be
able to finish games, [music] to finish
seasons, to finish in the fourth
quarter.
Every single night before you go to
[music] bed, you should say the
following to yourself. I just traded 24
hours of my life for the progress I made
today. Am I cool with that trade?
>> [music]
>> Ask yourself that.
Cuz you'll never get that day back. That
day is gone. It's over. In the history
of the world, you will never have that
day again. So, ask yourself, am I cool
with trading a piece of my life for what
the progress I made today? Am I good
[music] with that? And if the answer's
yes, then I hope you sleep really
soundly that night.
If the answer's no, then I hope at least
you pull a lesson [music] from that and
don't make the same mistake tomorrow.
But, be grateful, hey, I got another
crack at this thing tomorrow.