Myths Athletes Build Their Entire Lives On
I recently filmed a video with a colleague and we went through the myths I hear from athletes over and over. Not once, not twice -- dozens, maybe hundreds of conversations over the years. And every time, I'm surprised by how deeply rooted these beliefs are.
These aren't mistakes. Nobody is born with them. You got them from family, from coaches, from teammates in the locker room. The problem is that many of them work the exact opposite way today. They hold you back instead of pushing you forward.
Here are the five most common -- ranked by how often I see them and how much damage they do.
1. Sports Must Always Come First
This is number one. Underlined, with asterisks. The biggest myth living in athletes' heads.
I get where it came from. Coaches say it to motivate you. Parents say it because they want you to focus. And for a while, it makes sense -- discipline, sacrifice, focus on one goal.
But here's the problem. When you put sports first in every situation, skip friends, relationships, education, hobbies outside of training -- you'll find that one day you're standing in front of an empty garage. Sports ended or just faded, and you don't know who you actually are. Outside of sports.
The best athletes I know don't put sports first. They have it as part of a balanced life. And that's precisely why they lasted longer -- both performance-wise and mentally.
Sports are important. But the person playing them is more important. Build both.
2. Sports Will Support Me for Life
Nobody says this out loud anymore. But plenty of athletes still live this way -- without backup income, without other skills, without thinking about what comes next.
The average professional athletic career lasts 6 to 8 years. In hockey, soccer, volleyball. There are exceptions, but they're exceptions. Most athletes retire before 40 and then have 30-40 more years of productive life ahead.
Earning through sports -- great. Using sports as a launchpad for a career, business, personal brand -- even better. But counting on sports income lasting forever? That's a bet that pays off for very few people.
The point isn't to stop competing and get a desk job. The point is to ask yourself during your career: what am I building alongside my performance? What will remain?
3. I'll Wait on Personal Development
This one frustrates me the most. Because this is about time, and time doesn't come back.
An athlete in their twenties has things most people only dream of. Discipline. The ability to handle pressure. Experience with losing. Teamwork. The ability to work toward a goal for months on end. These are skills companies pay good money for.
But you have to develop these skills, name them, and learn to transfer them. And that takes time. Athletes who start working on themselves -- on communication, finances, self-presentation -- now, have a 5-to-10-year head start over everyone else when their career ends.
Those who wait start from zero at a time when they're more tired, less flexible, and less patient.
Every year you don't work on yourself as a person is a year nobody gives back. Personal development isn't a reward at the end of your career -- it's part of the training.
4. Education Is Just a Backup Plan
I hear this from athletes a lot. And I get it -- school takes time, focus, energy. When you've got training, transfers, away games, adding exams and semesters on top of that?
But education today doesn't just mean a degree. It means you know how to think, learn new things, and navigate a field. And those are exactly the skills that sports train -- most athletes just don't realize it.
Education and sports aren't opposites. They're two things that strengthen each other. An athlete who adds professional knowledge to athletic ability -- whether in marketing, finance, psychology, or another field -- has a combination that's highly sought after in the job market.
It's just about finding a form of education that fits your life. Online courses, internships, mentors, part-time programs. There are more options today than ever before.
5. More Training Sessions = Better Performance
This used to work. Maybe. Twenty years ago, when competitors also just ground it out and didn't know better.
Today, athletes who train less but smarter are winning. They work on sleep, recovery, mental preparation, nutrition, and analysis. And they outperform those whose plan is just more and more volume.
Two hours of quality training with a clear goal, good recovery, and the right mental approach does more than four hours of mechanical repetition. This isn't an excuse for the lazy. It's a way to get further than everyone else.
Train smarter. Add the mental game to the physical one. And then you'll see the difference -- in results and in how long you last without injury.
Volume isn't performance. Training quality and the ability to recover from it matter more than hours spent on the field.
Which One Is Yours?
I didn't write this to make you feel guilty. Almost all of us have these myths -- I had them too. And I saw through some of them too late.
I wrote this so you'd stop for a moment and ask yourself: what am I building on? Which of these beliefs are truly mine, and which did I just absorb from others?
Recognizing it is the first step. What you do next is up to you.
And if you're curious about the most common mistakes athletes make in practice -- not just in their heads -- check out the article 3 Biggest Mistakes Holding Athletes Back. It follows directly from this one.