Entitlement destroys athletes

Entitlement is the most dangerous feeling a college athlete could have. If I could give one piece of advice to those already in a college sport or to those coming in as a freshman, it would be to lose your sense of entitlement. The definition of entitlement is the belief that one inherently deserves privileges or special treatment. As a college athlete, you differ from about 90% of the world's population because you have an elite ability that many people don't possess. With this ability, you may have seen many successes through the positive interactions you have had with the people around you. For all of the freshmen out there who are going into college athletics from high school, if we're being honest, popularity was based on very superficial things like looks and appearances or how dominant you were in your given sport. Entitlement is something that many first-year students possess. This type of thinking will not only make your experience on the field with your team more negative, but it will also affect how you treat people off the field.  

The best way to make headway in your career as a college athlete is to work hard with no expectations. Whenever you do something, whether getting to watch an extra film session with a coach or having to do additional work in the weight room, don't ever go into that action thinking “if I do this, I should get this” In a lot of situations, these expectations are never met. A lot of times, you will do things with minimal reward, and even if you get a reward, it's never how you overall intended it to be if you feel entitled to it. When you receive or don't receive the reward you think you deserve, you may become bitter--bitter to your teammates and yourself. Your mind can begin spiraling about why things aren't working out for you, which can lead you to believe a coach or player has a personal vendetta against you. A sense of entitlement negates progress because you'll spend so much time on why you're not receiving the gifts you believe you should be receiving and you will get passed by. The game moves fast. The coach's opinions on you can move even quicker. If you spend too much time overanalyzing why you're being mistreated, you will get passed by because this thinking slows you down in more ways than you can think. The best way I could put it is to understand that life isn't fair, and neither is college sports. That's why I'm telling you now to not spend time expecting it to be fair like it might have been in high school. College sports aren't for everybody--you have to fight past a countless amount of adversity, including finding a way to overcome your pride and battle on. Having a sense of entitlement can make this mountain larger. 

The best way to lose an entitled mindset is to lose expectations. Work hard on the field because you know that's what you're meant to do, not because if you work hard, you will receive higher favor from the coach.  Don't work hard with an expectation to receive a reward. Work hard because you know that, as a college athlete, you're supposed to do this. If you establish the mindset to work hard, or do anything without expectations of a reward, the feeling will be much sweeter when you finally receive that reward. If you work hard with no expectations and just put your head down and get after it, you may never notice how long it takes for that reward to come through. All you will know is to work hard because that's what college athletes do.  

When you enter a college campus, understand that you are entitled to nothing. All of those accolades you had in high school are now worth nothing because I assure you, most of your teammates also had those accolades. Being great in high school is something to be proud of, but understand when you step foot on a college campus, a majority of your teammates have also had those same accolades from their high school experiences. You are not entitled to better treatment because you are no longer the biggest fish in your pond. In college athletics, everybody has skills, and everybody knows how to use them; don't expect to be highly favored based on high school triumphs. Now, will there ever be some that you may be better than your teammates? Yes, most definitely. However, understand that being better than others gives you no right to look down upon anyone on your team, because each person was hand-selected by the coaching staff, even the walk-ons. Having a sense of entitlement may cause you to constantly try to measure up to your teammates because you may believe that you deserve to be seen as higher than those around you'lll let me tell you that all that time you spend measuring your worth to someone else is time wasted. Put your head down and work with no expectation. Nobody just “fell” onto a college athletics team. So, lose the idea of establishing a hierarchy and respect the presence of other people who have worked just as hard as you have to get to where you all are. You are not entitled to high favor based on high school triumphs.  

Overall, remember that you are not entitled to better treatment. You are not entitled to more playing time. You are not entitled to rewards. The only thing you need to worry about as a college athlete is working hard and efficiently without expecting praise. Going into situations with expectations often ends with disappointment and irrational thoughts and ideas when that reward isn't given. All in all, put your head down and work without expectations. This goes beyond the field--be generous without expectation, be kind without expectation. Too many people in today's college atmosphere get caught up in needing a reward to do things, including myself. This mindset only slowed me down when I was going through my college experience. When I began working and doing things with no expectations, I became all the more grateful to rewards when I did receive them. Therefore, I protected my mental health and my heart because I didn't give myself time to realize how long it took for something good, like getting a reward, to happen. By the time I received reinforcement, all I could focus on was that I received it as opposed to how long it took for me to get it . So, remember: lose your entitlement, put your head down, and work without expectation. With this mindset, you won't only thrive on the field, but you will thrive off of it as well.