After turning pro, the pressure to build a legacy for your family and generations to come is priority #1. Gaining knowledge and skills to perform at a high level both on and off the field takes time and intentional preparation. Great coaching and mentorship can aid in that.
The mental and emotional toll it takes to be an elite professional athlete is not discussed enough. Juggling thoughts between personal play on the field, coaching expectations, teammate chemistry, and job security influences performance and personal well-being.
Before becoming a professional athlete, you were fishing in a pond. Now you have access to an ocean. How to set new goals and find new purpose without compromising who you are takes a coach that understands your desired path.
We are in a constant state of becoming. As we grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually from being exposed to whole new world, life direction can be overwhelming and confusing.
Understanding the new dynamics of relationships as a professional athlete is a challenge. Creating a team around you is important and getting family and friends to buy in to this need will mean more than ever before.
Marriage is work. Building a legacy starts with the person you chose to do life with. Communication, setting goals together, and confronting issues is not just a decision but an often overlooked skillset.
Your kids are your lasting legacy and a reflection of who you are and what you have done on this earth. Parenting with intention ensures the best part of you gets past down.
Emotions run high during competition as well as the highs and lows. Processing events and performance is very vital to keep negative energy from preparation for and during the next game.
Breaking down what happened mentally and emotionally throughout competition helps you identify repeat performance good or bad. Applying what we learned assists us to implement strategies for consistency.
Being able to communicate professionally about concerns you have to better understand and do your job is a skill. Nonverbal and verbal communication needs to be coached.
Going through organizational change can be stressful. The emotional toll and uncertainty can affect bringing your best self to your job. Working through those feelings and emotions to find opportunity in your new reality is important for a positive transition.
Believing who you are versus the message everyone else is sending you about your current skill level can be damaging to your pride and self esteem. The challenge is accepting who you think you are versus the opportunities afforded to you. How you respond to the criticism and take the next step will dictate how much of yourself you will invest into the next chapter of your life.
Re-evaluating past goals is important to maintain healthy growth mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Learning how to listen to one’s heart and making necessary but wise changes is important. Giving yourself time and space to explore new ideas and interests is a big part of being in a state of fulfillment.
Reaching the ultimate goal of becoming a professional athlete takes laser focus commitment to a singular purpose. How to rediscover that passion and drive again my a require a reset for expectations for yourself and your new environment.
The dream opens up opportunity to fulfill bigger dreams. Taking advantage without spreading yourself thin is best executed by a trusted team that will not compromise your mission and values.
A new world is now opened up to you to embark on new experiences. How you appreciate those experiences without losing who you are takes a full understanding of self worth and personal value.
Planning the next chapter in your life can be a little frightening. Fear of the unknown is more real when there is lack of awareness of what was gained from your story. Examining those experiences allows us to reveal hidden talents and passions.
Pealing back the layers to discover who you are can be very hard and terrifying. But navigated the right way can bring understanding and a newfound appreciation of your story. This turnaround in prospective is the start of your journey to fulfillment and purpose.
Every athlete carries the burden of their family and community. Putting their needs before yours is second nature. But when you give yourself permission to choose you first, your belief system begins to change in a more productive way. Choosing yourself first, allows you to give 100% attention and effort into your own personal development. Therefore you are enabling yourself to bring more to your family and community while feeling confident and empowered to do what is right.
Getting to the pro ranks was about you. Maintaining a job and sustaining your position on the team is about others. You are both in the performance as well as the relationship business. Exploring opportunities to be a better teammate is giving value to what you believe about yourself, “I’m more than an athlete!”
Making a decision to do better and be better takes courage. It also takes inventory for habits and behavior that impedes progress toward reaching your best self. Understanding where accountability is missing in your life is the first step toward that change.
Making promises to yourself and others takes a disciplined effort toward the person you claim to be. Setting consistent practices in place gives you and others confidence that this new commitment can be trusted.
A huge part of who you are comes from how you were raised and the family dynamics that still exist. Gaining knowledge about those important details allows you to understand and have more control over the positive and negative issues about your family.
Unmerited stress from family and friends usually become a distraction that affects performance negatively. Learning the skill and tact to have difficult conversations alleviates that stress by keeping everyone on the same page.
It’s difficult to set boundaries when no one in your family and friend circle understand your goals and what you are trying to accomplish. That understanding allows those that are responsible and respect your vision to set their own boundaries and constraints.
Trusting others outside of the network of friends and family is difficult. But in this new world, an expanded network is required to grow. The skill of vetting newcomers and appropriate delegation of responsibility is key.
Finding ways for your family and friends to contribute and not be a detriment to your professional career can be a challenge. Thoroughly examining and being honest about their personal strengths and weaknesses are valuable things to take account for.
In marriage, we can lose prospective that the person we are relating to on daily basis is a human being and not our emotional dumping ground or punching bag. Choosing to be a good person, your best self, sends the message to your spouse that “our relationship has value regardless of the challenges we face”.
Because we care so much for our spouse, we can easily listen to help, instead of listen to allow them to be fully heard. Intentional listening is a skill where the totality of conversation, verbal and non verbal communication, can be embraced and appreciated.
Sure the focus is primarily on you, the professional athlete, but your spouse wants you to be a part of their life journey as well. Staying engaged and supportive takes effort, especially when a lot of the energy is being expelled as an athlete. Setting aside scheduled time to be fully present is necessary to make your spouse feel like their life brings value to the relationship as well.
Disagreements are going to happen in a marriage, but they do not have to turn into hurtful confrontations. Conflicts happen when trust is lost in each others intentions. Never compromising respect for one another and not forfeiting the belief that your spouse still cares for you is important to maintain civil differences of opinion.
Honesty is the truest form for an invitation toward intimacy. How we decide to articulate our honesty determines if that invitation will be accepted. The skill of using words and tones to build up or tear down is a decision of the heart.
We all want to be there for our kids when they need us. But are we available to give our own advice or are we there to fully listen and engage with what they are going through mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Understanding the difference will determine how much they will open up to you.
Raising kids is hard work. Between providing for their basic needs and giving them every opportunity to experience more than you did, crucial personal development skills can get lost. Achieving personal development goals breeds confidence in our kids self esteem to be and feel successful in each stage of their growth years.
Having an opportunity to have quality time with our kids is a privilege and a blessing. What we do intentionally with that time makes all the difference in the experience for both parents and children. Growing together as individuals and as a family should be the goal for each activity.
We all want our kids to display good character and leadership when we are not around. It all starts with how we model that behavior at home. Kids have to be taught how to conduct themselves with strong character. Again being intentional and taking advantage of teachable moments makes all the difference.
Our kids will face obstacles in their life early. It’s natural for parents to want to protect or limit as many disappointing moments as possible. But the kids sense the fear of our “will to protect” as well, which heightens their anxiety. How to nurture those fears is extremely crucial in their development to feel confident handling adversity and setting goals.
CoachBobbyJackson has over 25+ years coaching athletes at every level in various arenas. From private practice to a strength and conditioning coach at the high school and collegiate level, CBJ has accrued a vast amount of knowledge for the special needs of the elite athlete.
He has a holistic approach founded on the concepts of mental, emotionally, and spiritually legacy building. Starting off with the question, “Who are you?”, CBJ leads his clients down a path of fulfillment and self discovery. Ownership and the ability to take total responsibility of one’s life is his priority #1.
Education:
B.S. Communications Northwestern University
4 year letterman Football - Northwestern University
M.S. Professional Studies - Lipscomb University
Performance CoachIng Certification- Lipscomb University
Global Leadership Certification - Lipscomb University
Certified through ICF (International Coaching Federation)
3 years of Mental Health & Chemical Dependency Experience
Personal Life:
24 year committed relationship (21 years married)
2 children (young man 16, young lady 19)
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