 If you have weaknesses in your game, be aware of them. There is no point in lying to yourself. Most players will never improve because they won't admit that they actually need to improve. They are stubborn. They are self-absorbed. They are not self-aware. So don't be like most players. Admit your weaknesses and commit to improving them. Next, stop hiding from your weaknesses. If you keep going to your right because you don't have a left, you'll never improve your left. If you don't attempt long passes because you're not good at long passes, you'll never improve your long passing. If you're afraid to shoot because you're bad at shooting, you'll always have a bad shot. So be aware of your weaknesses, but don't hide from them. The only reason your weaknesses are weaknesses is because you haven't turned them into strengths yet. Your strengths were once weaknesses. You simply wanted to improve them. You put in the work and you develop the skill. There is no reason you cannot do this again with a new skill. Just as importantly, you must realize that your improvement must be continuous. It never ends. No matter how good you are, you can always become better. And if you want to be a great player, you must always want to become better. Most players will only fulfill a fraction of their potential because they settle for good enough. They stop trying to improve what they are already good at, so never settle for good enough. Be honest with yourself, be aware of your weaknesses and strengths, and be committed to never ending improvement. When did people start to neglect the importance of practice? We want the skills, but we don't want to put in the work. We want to watch a video and suddenly have a perfect first touch and an accurate shot. Stop shying away from hard work. It doesn't work like this. You have to put in the work. So start enjoying the process of improvement. If you want to improve your skills, you need to put in honest, consistent, dedicated practice. If the idea of training consistently and working hard every day discourages you, you will never have the skills that you want. Becoming better is fun. It feels good to improve. It feels good to work hard. That feeling after a hard training session, it's something that you want to feel every day. So don't hide from the hard work. Run towards the hard work. And when you get there, train like you're addicted to getting better. When it's time to practice, be present. In this moment, nothing else matters. Don't think about what you're doing later tonight or what happened yesterday. Focus on right now. Focus on practicing. Focus on getting better and focus on improving your skills. To improve, you have to practice. There is no way around it. Stop looking for the easy solution because nothing worth having comes easy. If you're practicing but not improving, you may be failing to do one very important thing. Analyzing. Most players don't analyze. They simply kick a ball and get excited or depressed depending on what happens. They keep doing the same thing and expecting something different to happen. By definition, this is insanity. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Well, it is pure insanity to practice without analyzing. Every touch, every pass, every shot, every dribble can and should be examined in an effort to improve. Analyze your failures and learn from them. Why didn't my shot have power? What do I need to change? What do I need to try? Why was my first touch poor? What should I do differently next time? How come that pass didn't reach my teammate? What should I try next time? Always ask yourself, what do I need to do differently to produce the outcome that I want? Learn from your failures and remember your successes. By analyzing every technique, every skill you produce, you will improve much faster than you ever have before. Obviously you are a player of this game. You love to play this game, but are you a student of this game? There's a big difference. A student of football studies the game and is always looking to learn. A player just shows up and plays, wishes he was better and gets depressed when he is not. That's like expecting to pass a test without studying and being upset when you fail. It doesn't make sense. Do yourself a favor and become a student of technique. Learning from yourself is the first step. However, if you're only looking at yourself, you are missing out on a big opportunity. To improve your skills faster, learn from other players, especially professionals. Analyze their technique as you would your own. You can watch YouTube compilations, match highlights and live games, but watch closely. How did Ronaldo score that header? How did Messi beat that defender? How did Alonso play that long pass? The beautiful thing about modern technology is you can rewind and watch these techniques again and again to study and learn what these players are doing so well. Use this to your advantage. Start studying and experiment with what you have learned the next time you are training. Professionals are not just here for you to envy. They are there for you to study, so use them to your advantage. So you're starting to master your technique, or so you think, but hitting a free kick top corner on an empty field by yourself is very different than doing so in the 90th minute with thousands of people watching and the gold medal on the line. You've been working hard to improve your skill. Now in the game, it's time to use it. Do not be afraid to fail, because guess what? You will fail. And in the end, it's going to make you better. You will learn from your experiences, but only if you are brave enough to try. You will only be able to succeed if you are willing to fail. To improve your skills, you must use them when it really matters in the game. Focus on what you've learned and studied. Apply what you've been practicing and take a chance. Whatever happens, you will survive. Review that experience, review that technique, learn from it and move forward. Just remember, your new skills are useless if you don't use them.