So, it’s a couple weeks into the new year and, technically speaking, you should be motivated to hit your goals as an athlete…right?

You should be “smashing your goals,” or “working your way to success,” or “grinding it out and getting it done”…right?

Well, truth be told if you’re like myself, and most athletes, then chances are that motivation can take a deep dive very fast at this time of the year.

In fact, if you’re like an NBA player that I work with, then chances are this is the time of the year that you’re approaching a rut, or feeling like you’re close to it.

The Truth About This Time of The Year

This past week I had a session with one of our NBA clients and I noticed he was a bit down; so I went through our normal checklist of what we usually do when this happens.

His targets were in check for the year, his ambitions were set, he knew the actions of what he needed to do, but he goes, “Matt, I just think that the holiday rush finally hit me. It’s kind of like I’m feeling the after effects of all the family, planning, and time with family.

And now, I feel like just going through my day to day is a challenge…”

Funny enough, this is how most of us feel during this time of the year; in fact, the term has even been coined as “Seasonal Affective Disorder,” or SAD which is how you usually feel when you’re going through this.

This time of the year especially, most people get waves of it - it comes and goes, but the most common symptom is a feeling of burnout, or just feeling like you’re always tired and unmotivated.

I wish that I could say this wasn’t the truth and that this happens to the rare few, but the truth is that most people go through this at this time of the year.

It’s a combination of the weather, the time of the year, and simply not taking enough time away from your sport.

For our NBA player, and me in the past, it was a combination of all 3.

How to Fix It

So, I used our simple blueprint to help our NBA player with this; we did the following three things:

1. Supplement with Vitamin D

2. Rediscover why he started in the first place

3. Consciously schedule times to step away from the game once a week

Supplementing with Vitamin D

DISCLAIMER: consult a physician before following this (we’re all unique and have unique needs).

Vitamin D is a vitamin that’s found both in food and in our environment; it comes in natural doses from the sun, and can be found in foods such as fish and beef (there are many other foods, but these are the best bang for your buck).

During this time of the year, the sun is at its weakest (unless you live in a nice, hot, place…I envy you being from Toronto…).

So, with our NBA player, we had him work together with his team to see how much vitamin D he needed to take each day in the form of a pill.

You can do the same by speaking with your doctor and getting a blood test to see what you need specifically for you to feel functional.

But often times, most of us (especially if you live in the Northern parts of North America) are lacking this vitamin at this time of the year, and it causes us to feel like our energy has been zapped (notice in the summer times how you feel more energetic? Well, it’s not the heat doing that for you, it’s the sunlight).

Getting Back to Remembering Why You Started

It’s funny because at this time of the year everyone is “goal hungry,” meaning that they like to use the new year as a time to set a bunch of targets for themselves.

But the truth is that most people forget the most important part behind setting targets, and that’s putting purpose behind it.

Your purpose, or “why” as the influencers call it, is what “gets you going,” or in simpler terms: it’s what the target makes you emotionally feel.

So, for our NBA player, we actually focused on what scoring more points would make him feel, and that feeling he was chasing was the feeling of accomplishment.

So, instead of getting him focused on the target, which really didn’t motivate him much, we had him focused on chasing the feeling of accomplishment every night.

So if you have targets right now and you’re lacking motivation, ask yourself what that target will make you feel if you accomplished it. Then describe it vividly by writing it down, then chase it every day.

The target is just a means to an end.

Scheduling Time to Step Away From the Game

This is one that every athlete gasps at when I suggest it, but truth be told - every pro athlete has scheduled off days, and whenever they often burnout.

Seriously - the pros that we work with can usually do 5 days straight of practices and games before they start to get tired of it, and I’m not just talking physically, but I’m talking mentally as well.

So to help our NBA player, we laid out the entire month, looked at his schedule, and planned either fun and exciting things around his off days, or simply days to just “chill.”

This let him work hard with something to look forward to in the short term, and instantly brought his excitement back knowing that he’d have a day to himself, or with loved ones, to celebrate his week of work.

Take the time to schedule out what you want to do on your off days - look forward to it and don’t feel bad about it.

Stay Resilient

And there you have it - this is how we helped an NBA player regain his motivation. This year, you deserve to reach your full potential - remember that.

Stay resilient,

Matt Caldaroni

Co-founder, Molliteum

P.S. if you want to work with us in any capacity, there’s 3 ways we can help you:

1 - TOGETHER with a Molliteum Coach (on an application base only)

2 - ON YOUR OWN with the Molliteum Pocket Coach

3 - FOR FREE on YouTube and on our Podcast