Your Goals Won't Make You Happy

Happy Monday Footyfam!

No, you’re not going crazy, usually we send this out on Fridays.

However…

Due to quite a bit of demand, we’ve decided to switch it back to Mondays.

From now on, we’ll be fueling your week with the best development piece and news all in one place!

Let’s get into it.

Against all odds, Ivory Coast win the AFCON trophy

Ivory Coast really had no business beating out Nigeria to win their third AFCON.

First of all, they lost to Nigeria in the group stages.

Thinking they were out of the tournament, they sacked their manager.

However, they ended up securing one of the third-place wild card slots to move on to the knockouts.

From there, they had two come-from-behind wins in the round of sixteen and quarterfinals.

In the finals, they were down 1-0 until the 62’ when they leveled it.

Sébastien Haller went on to score the winner in the 81’.

Haller himself is a story, as he was diagnosed with cancer in 2022.

He beat the cancer in 2023 and was able to return to football.

In 2024, he got to make his full comeback story.

Bayern suffocated by Leverkusen

We’ve talked about Leverkusen’s heroic story and their win streak before, but it just got better.

Leverkusen were able to convincingly ward off their closest threat to losing the top of the table.

3-0 ended up being the final score line; however, the score isn’t the most impressive part.

Bayern didn’t have a single goal-scoring opportunity.

Not one.

A German analyst mentioned that this was the second time they've ever seen this statistic in the 35 years they’ve been recording it.

Leverkusen is proving themselves as a major force to be reckoned with just one year after avoiding relegation.

Processes, not goals

From ages 12 to 17, all I wanted to do was play college soccer for my dream school.

I locked in on my goal and set sail.

It’s all I wanted.

It’s what I needed.

At age 17, I signed my letter of intent to play for that school.

What I had worked for for years was finally coming to fruition.

I was the first division-one athlete from my small town, and I had just proved everyone wrong.

I felt like I was on top of the world.

But little did I know...

That was going to be the best part.

When I showed up for my first semester, it was a completely different world than I expected.

The coach didn’t like me, I was struggling to make connections with my teammates, I wasn’t to the level of everyone else, and the school work overwhelmed me.

It was miserable.

But for some reason, I endured and showed up day after day.

I could feel myself getting tougher and my game improving.

That lasted for two whole years.

After my sophomore season, I walked into my coach's office and told him I wanted to be released so I could transfer.

“To find a school you’re going to fit in at, you’re going to have to drop to division two or three,” he let me know.

Screw that.

I didn’t go through all of that to not prove myself right.

Long story short, I ended up transferring to another D1 school and landing myself in an amazing situation.

I won the starting spot, we were in the top 25, I racked up conference and national awards, and I received some pro-trial offers.

And above all else, I was happy.

Now, this story isn’t to scare you away from chasing your massive goals.

Or to tell you to endure even though every bone in your body is telling you to quit.

I just want to offer a shift in perspective because I missed the biggest aspect of it all.

The process.

Looking back on the two years I spent at my dream school, I learned what it really meant to trust the process.

I could’ve quit at any time because the reality of my dream was nowhere near how I envisioned it.

But there was a voice deep down that kept telling me, “just make it to tomorrow.”

I learned the hard way that if you don’t enjoy the process and your happiness depends on you succeeding in your goals, your happiness will always be fleeting.

However, if you can find enjoyment and get lost in the challenges that show up every day, you unlock the magic in the mundane.

Life seems to get easier, and the vibes always seem to be high.

You know that you’re working towards something bigger, yet you’re more than content grinding out the sprints you need to do.

Each step you take is enjoyable because you know you’re working towards something bigger.

Show up and do the work.

For when you’re ready to improve

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Until next time,

Footytutor