How Having Cancer Helped Chris Odoi Realize That Soccer May Not Last Forever
The #AskASocerPro show is a Live video podcast where 11 year MLS vet and Mental Strength Coach Quincy Amarikwa dives into the mentalities of highly successful individuals both on and off the pitch. In this weeks episode Chris Odoi discussed about biggest misconception on being a MLS player, What does he do off the field, his favorite memory and more.
Time Stamps
0:00-1:59 This might just be our mentally toughest episode yet with the 102nd episode. 👉🏽😶👈🏽
2:00-3:05 Why you need to adopt the MSL mindset. 👉🏽😶👈🏽
3:21-4:23 Don’t get left behind because you didn’t check out the Perfect Soccer Subscription
www.PerfectSoccerSkills.com/Subscription
4:22-6:42 Chris Odoi - MSL Mentee Joins The #AskASoccerPro Show!
6:43-9:20 Chris Odoi on how the Long Term Winners Mindset influences his decisions.
9:21-16:16 How Having Cancer Helped Chris Odoi Realize That Soccer May Not Last Forever, And What He Did About It.
16:17-22:11 Chris Odoi On How Fear Affects Him.
24:14-31:18 Chris Odoi on his biggest misconception on being a MLS player
@markbtackett
31:19-36:15 What does Chris Odoi’s plan look like post career?
@joe.jackson11
37:25-39:20 What does Chris Odoi do off the field to help him become a better player? @is.umar_
39:21-45:00 Why Chris Odoi uses the Perfect Soccer Time Management Worksheet
http://www.PerfectSoccerSkills.com/Time
47:40-51:12 Chris Odoi’s favorite memory from playing with Quincy
51:24-53:47 New competition between MSL Mentee’s Earl Edwards Jr. and Chris Odoi.
53:48-57:12 A Little Trash Talk And Why YOU MUST Purchase Your Perfect Soccer Subscription.
http://www.PerfectSoccerSkills.com/Subscription
57:13-59:18 How To Stay Up To Date With Chris Odoi And His Story.
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*Transcript is unedited and machine-generated. There will be errors. For further clarity please refer to the audio or video.
Quincy Amarikwa (00:00):
We're all here to ride the MSL waves. You've mentioned the strength lead. I'd like to welcome you to another episode of the hashtag ask eight soccer pro [inaudible] art what's going on. RF. K refugees. Welcome. Welcome Eden EDI en. Welcome in Joe Jackson, Connor Johnson. Shannon, what up? Hi, David loud artists. What's going on? I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Looking forward to today's episode and today's guest. Oh man. Almost, even. I got so excited for today's guest. I forgot to get, I forgot to download his graphics. Uh, what's going on? I'm doing well. Soccer, soccer sub podcast dropped by what's going on, Matt. What's happening. What's happening. Let's see. Um, yeah, I'm not going to be able to pull it up. Cause the internet at my house of residence is not, is not doing too hot right now. Um, spending that hard button, but all right, let's get into it because 2020 one's about that frequency.
Quincy Amarikwa (01:11):
I'm getting dialed in. I'm excited for today and I'm also excited for the, the, the, I don't even know how to describe it, but let's get into what I've got here. And, um, as we prepare for today's show guest, so, uh, what's going on everybody. Welcome to another episode of the hashtag. Ask a soccer pro show. I am your host. 12 year pro MLS cup champion, MLS comeback Claire, the year UC Davis hall of fame member, black players for change founder and MSL coach Quincy America. Now what is the MSL? You may be asking yourself, well, that's what we're here to discuss and break down every Thursday, 6:00 PM, PST 9:00 PM EST live here on the perfect soccer, Instagram account, the mental strength league. I mean, you had, uh, dropped those Ivan. You had emojis if you're down in the MSL and for those of you who are just now tuning into this frequency, hopefully you like what I did there.
Quincy Amarikwa (02:14):
It's a game of 40 chess, one where you're either aware and an active participant or you're upon in the game steady getting played. So what is the MSL? It is the mindset you need to accomplish your goals. Why should you have this mindset? So you can learn how to learn, why learn, how to learn? Well. So you can know how, and when you were stopping yourself from achieving your goals and what to do about it. And when does this mindset start? Well, when you take responsibility for where you are, even if where you are, isn't your fault and put forth a plan to learn what you need to, to continue forward. So if you guys are ready for two days episode, I'm going to need you guys to spam that heart button and drop below what you're excited for, uh, with today's episode as well, those humming your head, emojis, loving that, loving that love, and that love in that.
Quincy Amarikwa (03:05):
Uh, Joe Jackson already dropping them in your head emojis. Uh POBA Jr. Trevor Willis increased football, yo Jordan, what's going on, um, loving that scene. Everyone has spending the heart button and, uh, while everybody is doing that, sharing with me, what you're excited for today's episode in today's show guests, I'm going to give you guys a quick word from today's sponsor yet. So today's episode is brought to you by perfect soccer. The number one platform online to talk to learn from and work with pro soccer players. Sign up for your perfect soccer subscription today over@perfectsoccerskills.com slash subscriptions subscription that's subscription subscription, right? So this is for youth players to pros, coaches and parents get access to everything you'd ever need on your soccer journey with your perfect soccer subscription. Again, head over to perfect soccer skills.com/subscription today, and shout out Joe Jackson for dropping that link for everybody on the live here as they're spamming at heart button to sign up because an investment in perfect soccer, is that an investment in yourself?
Quincy Amarikwa (04:14):
You guys know what it is [inaudible] and, uh, I'm excited for today's show guest. We're having a future legend. I wouldn't even know, say future legend, current legend and future double legend. Chris, a, uh, my old teammate over at DC United and an MSL mentee of mine. Mans has been doing work and has an amazing story. Um, I'm excited to bring him on here today. Uh, uh, give the audience a little bit of breakdown of his mentality. I'll even let him share a little bit, um, let him, uh, we'll have him share a little bit of his story for those of you who aren't aware of, uh, where he's been and, um, get an idea of where he's going and, uh, any questions that you guys have, make sure you drop them in the comment or in the question box here. And I think I saw Chris had already joined in, so let me send him that so we can get him in here and get going. Uh, uh, Justin Mauro dropped in the live. What's going on brother say Chris's late. That's that's a fine where I come from, bro. Chris is not late. Mans was on time. He's been patiently waiting, uh, even patiently waiting cause I've I'm coming correct with the, uh, the official, the official introduction to the show. What's going on, brother? How you doing brother? And you're the actual legend man. I me bro. Hey, come on bro. Come on, come on, bro. You'll make me bless you're on the live. You know, yo love that.
Quincy Amarikwa (06:04):
Yo, I love that man. Repping the long-term winner's mindset, you know, uh, man, I pull up now you're making me, uh, relive good times. Um, I'm thinking about when we had the t-shirts, uh, at preseason 2020, uh, I saw you, I, the long-term winners mindset t-shirt immediately and say that that's me. That was mine. I mean, Hey, I need that. I need does it. Okay. Bet, bro. This is the only one I have, but facts it's yours. Yeah, no, I'm happy to see you still got it, brother. What a man. I know we'll, we'll end up talking about a whole bunch of stuff as we typically do. Uh, what, what made you, uh, what made you go for that, that shirt? What about that was, what about that represents you?
Quincy Amarikwa (06:52):
Yeah, the long-term mindset, something I really picked up off of you. That's something that you preached in our conversation, several conversations throughout our year together, um, you know, before go, the beating you and talking to you and learning your mindset. I was very stern sort term with my thinking and how I went day by day and how I went about life. Um, you know, just take a sort term for quick reference. You know, first couple of years in a lead, I wasn't really thinking about life after soccer. You know, like I'm a professional soccer player, things are going okay. You know, I'm not going to be here for awhile. Not thinking that anything can change at any moment. Uh, and things did. And my career was we'll probably get into a little later, which kind of starts shifting my mindset and that in addition with meeting you and talking to you and having our conversations, uh, so now more of a long-term thinker in terms of the way I operate.
Quincy Amarikwa (07:55):
That's awesome, man. No, I appreciate, I mean, I appreciate that and it's, it's cool, man. It's been cool to really see your progress and your process, you know, just like, uh, initially meeting you in DC, watching, watching you watch me and Earl just have long debates in the, in the locker room, uh, you know, helping me better understand, you know, your approach and how you think about things and you know, always, I will always tell you, you know what I mean? Like I learned just as much, I think I feel I learned even more from you, you know what I mean? Like, and I've always appreciated how open you've been in, in, um, your willingness to like recognize where you're at. Like, I, I guess my main thing I'm getting around to the directing is like, there's a, it's, it's a skillset of knowing you don't know everything, but also confident that you do know, you know, what you know, and you're good at what you do.
Quincy Amarikwa (08:59):
You know what I mean? So it's like, it's, it's a, it's a good, it's a good balance. And um, I always thought you did a really great job of that. And um, it's just been cool to see how that progressed over time. Um, you, you, of, you touched on it a little bit in terms of what might've kind of, kick-started your, Hey, you know, soccer doesn't doesn't necessarily, might not last forever. Um, w you want to give us a little bit of, uh, of your, of your story, you know, uh, of it, of what you'd like to share and, and, and what that process has been like for you.
Quincy Amarikwa (09:34):
Yeah, sure. So, um, I guess I'll take it back a little bit. Just give people a little bit of my background. Uh, Chris had deleted sham, my full name. If you didn't know, going into my fifth year of professional soccer with DC United, uh, born and raised in Maryland. So I'm from this area I've been here my whole life pretty much. And I think that's where it all stems from. You know, I think I've lived, uh, you know, a very good life, especially growing up. My parents worked very hard to give me all the resources I needed in order to be successful. You know, whether it was the, the schools I went to growing up, or, uh, finally it's to go to a better team. You know, growing up the team was an hour away. The practice was our way. Parents made that sacrifice to get me there in order to become a better player.
Quincy Amarikwa (10:25):
And I think that's where it was like, I was just, I was pretty much in a comfortable position for most of my life. Um, and that lasted a long time, you know, as I progressed and got older, uh, soccer was always pretty comfortable. I was always one of the better players in the area in high school. My junior year, the team that at school would, I was wanting to go to Maryland, can call her. And so I committed early my junior year, I got to Maryland four years started there. Uh, so, you know, this was all comfortable, but once I got to my procreate, that's when things got shaken up a little bit and started becoming a little uncomfortable for me. Uh, 2017, I got drafted to DC United, uh, two weeks into my first pre-season. I got hurt, got an injury was out for a couple of weeks, came back, got sent, uh, the USL team Richmond, uh, at the time.
Quincy Amarikwa (11:17):
And, uh, I couldn't even play there. You know, I, I knew I was not having a chance of playing with the first thing and I was fine with that. I'll get my experience. And he goes, so it's hard to get my chance for the first thing. I go down to USL and I can't even get on the field there, you know, I'm like a month or two in my career and I'm like, I'm play in the USL. Like maybe I'm not cut out for this, you know, just hard on myself and my mentality wasn't right at the time. But, uh, eventually that might've been a good thing. Uh, since I was playing there, then he kept me at DC and train. I started quickly Franny and eventually like an injury happened. I started getting back into the, to the roster and the best of planning and starting games.
Quincy Amarikwa (12:00):
So it worked out in the, uh, in the end. So my first year was okay towards the end of the year. I got hurt again. Um, and then 2018 happened my second year in the league. I had a decent first year, so I'm expecting my second year to be even better. I'm trying to take it up a notch and make a true impact in the league. And that wasn't the case at all. Uh, immediately just started dealing with injuries. My second year had the surgery and then I was just always, uh, not feeling good, not feeling right. Something was always wrong. I didn't know what it was. I was going to the team telling them something's off something, you know, can, can I get checked out, find something, they couldn't find anything wrong with me. I got in my head and started thinking like, Oh man, they must think I'm lying or making the sub that out.
Quincy Amarikwa (12:47):
I was like, man, maybe I'm not cut out for this. You know, just went to a bad path. And towards the end of the year, it came out that I had possibly as my former, uh, form of blood cancer. So, you know, uh, went through, you know, obviously that's a very life-changing event that happened for me. And, uh, you know, that's when I really picked up the idea that man, like my career really could have been over at any time and the time I'd spend off the field. I wasn't really preparing myself for life after soccer. You know, it was more of coming home and taking a big nap for two, two and a half hours, uh, playing video games that Alize the grant, whatever, you know, just not being very productive with my free time when we have so much free time as professional soccer players.
Quincy Amarikwa (13:39):
Uh, so, you know, I went through chemotherapy, eventually made it back on the field and, uh, you know, that's that following year 2019 is when I met you. So, uh, the combination of, you know, having a cancer and going through that experience and then meeting you, someone with your mindset, just the combination of those things together just really had me motivated to start just doing things that were better for, for my life. Maybe after soccer or just putting in the work. Now, changing my mentality on certain things, certain things that you pointed out, maybe some flaws in me that you would point out, but, uh, with you, the type of person you are being so selfless. And even though you pointed out these flaws in me, you were willing and more than able to help me throw them and helped me work on them. And the amount of time that we spent like having conversations, man, it was a lot throughout the year, but I was appreciated you spending that time, like passing on your knowledge and information that you accumulated over your lifetime and your career and your willingness to pass that on to anybody who was willing to listen as everybody here in perfect soccer knows, uh, that you have, that you have, that you have that mindset and that you have that get to pass that on to other people.
Quincy Amarikwa (15:01):
So that's not my story. That's kind of how I changed my mindset. And I'm still working on still constant process. I still fall short a lot of times, but, uh, you know, I'm still trying to go up and up, uh, as, as life goes on,
Quincy Amarikwa (15:15):
Man, I love that, man. You gave me teary-eyed over here, bro. Might try to try to make me cry over here on my show, bro. That's that's I mean, I, I appreciate that. That's like, that means a lot. I, um, um, yeah, but I wasn't expecting to hear that, man. I just was, I was just always, uh, focused on hopefully trying to share how to avoid many mistakes that I made because I've made, I made a whole lot of them and I'm sure you saw me make a whole, a whole lot more, even, even in our time in, uh, in DC. Right. Uh, but as you know, and we talked about here on the show with the three S's of self-awareness, you know, like, um, making mistakes is part of the process and being, being open to criticism and self reflection and self-awareness is, is, is key right?
Quincy Amarikwa (16:09):
To accomplishing your goals, said it, I said it a little bit earlier here in the intro of what the, a, what the MSM mindset is. And, uh, I think something that you pointed out as well as like, you, you fall short, but you're falling forward, you know, and if you've got the long-term winners mindset, you know, a loss or a setback, um, even you had mentioned it, um, when you were talking about, uh, when you got sent down to the USL very early in your, your, you know, your first year looking back on it, it's a positive, but during, it's not, it's not so positive. Right.
Quincy Amarikwa (16:46):
He talked about the, um, the state of self doubt, uh, questioning, am I cut out for this? You know, is it me? Is it the system? Is it, you know, it's a very uncomfortable, uh, face and I think what's great. What's great in your story and you sharing that is, um, a lot of players, parents, coaches, um, don't see that side of the game, right. They don't, they don't, they don't hear about that. That's not spoken to very frequently or often. And, um, it, it can, it can make people feel as though they're alone or they're by themselves, you know, they're by themselves in that. Um, so I, I think it's a amazing, your willingness to kind of share that and, um, and, and be so open. Um, when most people would be very scared, be very scared to be. Um, and, and that makes me even think about, uh, the, the conversations and, and, uh, jokes and stuff we'd have in the locker room about me always teasing you about being hella scary all the time. Right. Uh, okay. What, what do you, what do you think that, like, you know, I obviously I have my thoughts as to what it, what it is or what I think it to be, but like, for you, like, do you feel like those were rational fears? Do you think, like they're healthy? Like how, how do you describe what fear is? Like, what does fear to you?
Quincy Amarikwa (18:17):
Fear to me, I would say is the unknown. Um, so like our previous previously said, you know, I was always pretty much in a comfortable position and then didn't really care too much for too much change, you know? Uh, so, you know, fear to me is it's probably changed stepping into the unknown. And you were quick to point that out and said, do what you say. You're scared of just scary that I, I didn't like you saying that, but at the same time, you know, the fact that I realized, man, this question seems to send me like, this must be a real thing with me. Like, how do I, how do I work on, or how do I flex on it? And, you know, he gave me some great advice with that. And he said anything that's, you're, you're afraid of, or, uh, apprehensive to do, man, just step into it and see what you're scared of. He's like half the time, your head step in there and you look around, you're like, man, like I shouldn't, I shouldn't have got scared at all. You know, this isn't too bad that I, so, you know, I've tried to take that. So try to apply that. It's how to do things that, you know, a few years ago there was no chance I would have been doing so for sure, appreciate you for the poking at me, uh, to get, to get better.
Quincy Amarikwa (19:37):
Yeah. Not, uh, not everybody's too happy with my approach. Right. Uh, in the short term, um, the goal and hope is that in the long-term right. Um, it seemed for what it, what it's meant to be, which is a love, you know what I mean? Like I see your puppy. I see, I see where you are and I also see what you can become and what, you know, you can become for yourself. Right. Um, but nothing, nothing of greatness happens staying in your comfort zone, always, you know? And, um, it doesn't mean you're always going to step into step into the unknown and everything's going to go great. Sometimes it's gonna, it's going to go terribly wrong, but that also is an opportunity to learn. And I think you've, you've done it in your own way. And, and, uh, you know, you did the work I could, I could, you know, I can pull it out or call it out and tease you or, you know, encourage you, or however you want to, you know, someone might look at it as teasing and someone else looks at it as encouragement.
Quincy Amarikwa (20:43):
Right. Motivation. Um, so, and, and, and we talk a lot about that here. Right? Take negativity or positivity, or take negativity and turn it into positivity and take positivity and utilize it no matter what, it's energy. Right. So how are you going to utilize the energy to focus the attention people give you positive or negative? Um, so, uh, it's, it's no, it's, it's cool to, it's cool to see it. It's really cool to hear, because my point is really, you still have to do the work that matter if I call it out or pointed out, right? Like you're doing the work, your, your self reflect your step when you could maybe do more or when you need to do less, you know, cause you know, we're not all the same. We don't all have the same background, the same advantages disadvantages. And, um, what works for me might not work for you. Um, but your willingness to kind of, like I said, here, be confident in, in what, you know, but also open to seeing and hearing other things. I always, I always thought was a very valuable and, and um, impactful attribute that you have and, um, hopefully hopefully more clubs see that, understand that and, uh, and value that here moving forward. I, I, I think they will, if they're the smart ones will at least broke.
Quincy Amarikwa (22:11):
Um, okay. So let me see here. So everybody, uh, so obviously obviously a bunch of people are spending the heart button love and the love and the conversation so far, and a lot that you're talking about, um, uh, if anyone's got any questions, make sure questions for Chris, drop them in the, in the chat box here below also I'll look through the, um, Oh, Kevin joined in and said what up, um, tournament. Okay guys, you're talking about the tournament. What's uh, uh, uh, let's see. You always end up falling behind on the, on the scrolling here. Um, yeah, I've ever been on, this is your first live bro for something new, right? Yo, shout out.
Quincy Amarikwa (23:06):
I love that, man. You know, the, uh, it's very, uh, uh, we had DWP Bradley, right. Phillips was on. I want to say like episode, Oh man. Now to my knowledge. But, um, he came on, it was his first Instagram live as well to mans didn't know nothing about it. I was just like, what? Let's go, what up? Let's do it. Yeah. It was a great episode. So it was like, I respect that. That is a quality that a lot of people had, so they got to be prepared, perfectly love that. Uh, okay. So let's see what we got here, uh, at camp Kendall had said through adversity comes greatness and then dropped her I'm in the head and her I'm in the head. I'm in your head emojis. Uh, Kevin Perez said that boy, Chris is different. Right.
Quincy Amarikwa (24:02):
Having a different breed backs. Right.
Quincy Amarikwa (24:10):
Um, let's see.
Quincy Amarikwa (24:14):
Okay. So we got Mark Tackett, Mark [inaudible], um, asked, uh, what was your biggest misconception about being an MLS player?
Quincy Amarikwa (24:25):
Biggest misconception.
Quincy Amarikwa (24:27):
Okay.
Quincy Amarikwa (24:37):
Like prior to being a player and then realized that once I get in trouble, once I get that
Quincy Amarikwa (24:43):
Yeah. Let's, let's go. Um, let's go with that.
Quincy Amarikwa (24:54):
Probably I bought, I was more prepared for the adversity. Like the first thing that I mentioned, you know, I was prepared not to play right away for the first team, but, you know, I thought for sure I'd be able to play, uh, start in the USO and it wasn't, I wasn't even getting into that. That was just a real rude awakening for me, uh, that I had to go through, but you know, maybe better in the long run. So, uh, yeah, I would say that, uh, that maybe not easy to play in MLS, but definitely in the USO. I thought I was well prepared for that.
Quincy Amarikwa (25:36):
Okay. I like, okay. So then what was it that you were missing at that time? Like, cause clearly you figured it out, right? Like where you figured out what you needed to do, what, what, what did you get comfortable? What were you too comfortable with? And like, how did you under S how did you, how did you underestimate it so greatly?
Quincy Amarikwa (26:02):
You know, I thought it was just a given that, okay, the first thing sends me down to USO are going to be playing and, and starting and getting my minutes because you're not allowed. That's how it works. And I think five of us were sent down from the first team and all the, all of the four others were starting to play the whole game. And I'm there sitting on the bench, the whole game. I'm like, like, like what's up with me? Like, what am I doing? And then I started seeing him, I played my play, started to decrease until just like all mentality. I was like, man, I'm like, good for this look good enough for this level. So, you know, that's what it was for me. And it was, it was hard to get out of that, but, you know, eventually they call me back to the first team to train and that's when I started helping my game and improving at a fast rate. But, you know, if they had left me there, I don't know what else would have happened to be honest.
Quincy Amarikwa (26:57):
Gotcha. So what, what did you, what did you hone in on focus in on, like, what was your kind of North star?
Quincy Amarikwa (27:06):
Uh, what do you mean? Exactly?
Quincy Amarikwa (27:09):
So like you, you, you went down, you weren't expecting that you weren't playing, you got kind of like a second opportunity at getting back up to the first team and getting some, some training. What, what about once you got back? What did you focus on? So that, that, that wouldn't happen to you. So like you focused on the, how you felt not being involved and that made you work harder. Um, and if so, like what did you work harder at? Like what did you stop taking for granted? What did you stop? Um, what did you stop thinking was a given?
Quincy Amarikwa (27:49):
Yeah, for sure. I didn't want to feel that feeling again. So when I get back, got back to DC training, I was prepared to go back down. But, uh, when I did go back down, I was like, okay, I'm gonna be ready next time I go back for sure. So it was just things like, uh, going to training and even staying at the training, you know, knowing our assistant coach Nolan, he was helping me a lot. He was the guy who I was talking to a lot throughout that time and helping me focus on certain things after practice, maybe it was after practice, I've stayed a little later within maybe 20, 20 crosses or something like that. There's different parts of my game, just trying to get better at the round, out my game. Um, so whenever I was, you know, as me thinking, going back to USAA, I'll be ready, but it came to the point where the opportunity opened up for me with the first team. And I think I took full advantage of it when I was, uh, put in there, you know, start playing games, subbing in and definitely started starting the games. And, you know, I think my first year after I played, you know, good to, uh, above average, you know, every game support supper, maybe one game, I had a bad game, but other than that, I was pretty consistent or, uh, really felt like I belonged after that.
Quincy Amarikwa (29:06):
Love that. Okay. So, so you, you got a slice of humble pie, right? And then had to be honest with yourself about that and know that you didn't want to feel that again, you got, you, you took self initiative, cause you said I'm not going to make that mistake again. And I'm going to do additional work prepared for the next time. And then you held yourself accountable to that, to the point that you didn't even have to end up getting sent back down. Cause it's almost like you learned your lesson and you started accelerating growing quickly from that, from that experience. So I like that, man, that's active, that's active, uh, execution of the three S's of self-awareness man.
Quincy Amarikwa (29:47):
No, the last part self, uh, accountability. That's a big part that I feel like sometimes I like to just stay consistent and disciplined and that, uh, uh, and when I'm doing so for that year, you know, I was pretty consistent with doing quite a bit of extra work after training. And I think I really hope, and I should be doing more of it now to be honest, but yeah,
Quincy Amarikwa (30:13):
No, I follow you. I think, I think that's the one that can get most difficult because when you hold yourself accountable, it becomes habit and routine and then that becomes comfortable, you know? And, and then I think I talk about it. We talk about a lot. I talk about it here on the show, you know, what got you here might not get you there. And especially at the professional sports level, right? It's, there's constantly someone that's coming for your spot. So we talk about, you know, adapt or die. You got to adapt times change and sometimes they change real quick, you know? And, um, uh, I think understanding your strengths and your weaknesses is, is crucial to developing a long-term winner's mindset and surviving, you know, uh, for the, for the longterm. So I think, yeah, I think your experience is very unique and your perspective is extremely unique. And, and because of that, I think it only will, it only helps you Excel in the professional, in the professional world, you know, and, um, I think, uh, that's kind of a good, good, uh, transition into the next question that came in from, uh, from Joe Jackson. Um, he had asked, uh, what, uh, what do you want to do after your career, or what do you think be interested in,
Quincy Amarikwa (31:31):
Hey, great question. Um, I'm still working on that, trying to figure exactly what I want to do post career. And I don't know if you wanted to bring that up or I can bring it up now, but, uh, I'll be starting the internship actually with, uh, Quincy and perfect soccer learning under him. I think that's just, it's just a great time for me, you know, I spent almost the last year or two really learning and doing, going through personal development and things like that, but I think it's now it's time to put things into action. So, you know, things came up maybe possibly going back to school or maybe get a MBA or something like that. But, uh, you know, our conversation has made you Quincy and you vastly brought up this idea of me, you know, really working under you and learning and helping you at perfect soccer. And I thought it was a great opportunity. So, uh, you know, you're going to have me in different roles and positions to figure out what I like best. And I think it would give me more of a clarity to figure out which direction I want to go post career.
Quincy Amarikwa (32:37):
And, uh, was, Joe had asked that question yet. And, uh, I was excited. I'm excited to announce that, uh, yeah, Chris will be joining as a perfect soccer intern starting out here, um, with us. Um, we've had, you know, several, several interns in the past so far and some have become a full members of our, of the perfect soccer team. Um, some have kind of moved on into other industries and areas and it's, uh, it's been an amazing process. Um, Chris has helped us with our newly updated onboarding process, which has been awesome and, uh, creating a space where like he had mentioned, he can kind of, um, figure out where he wants to go because as a lot of, um, our followers and members, um, struggled with is, you know, how do I figure out what it is that I want to do? How do I know what I want to do?
Quincy Amarikwa (33:29):
That's like, that's a big task, you know, and a lot of people just put it on delay and they procrastinate, right. Cause they're just like, ah, I'll do it later. I'll figure it out later. I'll figure it out later. And very similar where you said, Hey, as a pro player, you got a lot of time, right? As a, as a, you know, a kid in high school in junior high kid in elementary school kid in college, you, you have a lot of time, you know, and, um, working and at a slow pace to figure that out is better than delaying it. So you said you've been, you've been researching personal development learning kind of tasting a little bit here and there over the last two years. And in that two year time, then it said, Hey, I think I want to, I want to dabble in this.
Quincy Amarikwa (34:15):
I know you're doing, you were trying to, you're a little bit of re real estate and you know, stock market. And I mean, I think my point is people think that you have to have it all figured out right away and from the beginning. And that's not the case, you know, that that's not the case at all. And, um, hopefully here with conversations like this and a big reason why I wanted to have you as a, you know, episode one Oh two of the show is, um, creating that space. So we have the room to figure it out. You know, we're not going to know everything. We're going to make mistakes. You can try something and that will maybe let you know that you don't want anything to do with it. And it's okay. Let's move on to something else. But let's also, let's also make sure we have a plan that we can commit to, um, over time, this is that longterm winners mindset.
Quincy Amarikwa (35:04):
I'm just, I'm just seeing, I'm just like your ex you're just you're executing on it. Right. You're living it. And, um, it, I guess it makes me reflect on like being in the locker room and I can be preaching it and saying it, and then it can be, I act, Quincy, Quincy, just talk him just the same old thing. Right. And I get that, right. Like, that's good, good. If I get tired and you're, you're sick of hearing me. That means you, at least you heard me say, you know, if, and when you hit that typical time or that road or whatever, if, if, if that story is helpful, cool. I did my job. Right. That's how I'm looking at it. And, uh, E being on this side, in terms of just seeing the results of the work that you've been doing in your free time, right?
Quincy Amarikwa (35:54):
Like when no, one's looking, holding yourself accountable, taking initiative, being honest with yourself, like the results speak, you know, and I, I think it's been well-deserved and I think you've earned. I think you've earned it, you know? So I'm, I'm just, uh, I'm proud of what you've been doing. And, um, I'm excited for, for what's what's to come and your future man. And, uh, you got other, uh, you got other fans, uh, uh, Philippe joined in, gave away. Yeah. Uh, uh, Earl, Earl Edwards Jr. Came and said, ah, I'm mad. I missed the first half of this one. Let me see. Okay. Yeah. So like I said, I'll fall behind on the step. Okay. So Earl's on Earl said for everyone watching Quincy, Chris and I sat side by side in the DC locker room and would have Cabos just like this every day for hours. Um, it was, it was our intro into the MSL life-changing, uh, Facebook. And he said, yeah, four hours. Yeah. You said four hours, but four hours. Isn't far off LOL. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you got, uh, Christina dropped, uh I'm in your head emojis, uh, jaw. Oh yeah. W it was a jaw had said, Oh, just finish a sweaty run. Didn't want to, didn't want to, but I'm part of the MSL school. I, uh, let's see. I think I saw another question for you. Come in here. Um, okay. Is dot Umar, U U M a R underscore said, Hey, Chris, what's the number one thing you do off the field that helps you progress as a player?
Quincy Amarikwa (37:36):
How I spend my time though, like I said, I used to spend it not being productive at all waste of time. It was just cool. Like, you just have to find a balance that works for you, but you can't be all one end of the spectrum too much. So before, when it was solely like TV, NABS, whatever, now it's more learning like, like you had previously said, learning about investing in real estate, investing in a stock market, you know, something that can set me up for, for the future, uh, you know, and continue to develop. So, uh, I've taken certain courses. They have free courses online, uh, that spend time on, uh, financial literacy course was kind of introductory me too, but I found another one on my own. Just how to better manage my money on my home and stuff like that. Uh, what else I spent my time doing, uh, um, I cook a lot now. Uh, you know, I changed my diet, so I have to cook a lot more for me, uh, spend time meditating. Uh, I tried to do that as soon as I wake up in the morning I go to sleep. I felt like that's really helped me, um, clear my head. Um, but yeah, just try to be productive with my free time. Um, for sure.
Quincy Amarikwa (39:05):
I love, I love that. Um, I can stand to do that a bit more. I did. I tried meditating. I did that for a little bit. Um, I liked that and enjoyed that. Like, I need to make time for that. That one's a good one. Um, you'd mentioned a lot of that is coming down to like time management. Did, um, did you utilize the time management, uh, worksheet and training that we had?
Quincy Amarikwa (39:29):
Yeah. So for those of you don't know, uh, once we Earl and I started talking to Quincy and he started to bring us into the MSL mindset, uh, he had, uh, started, uh, clock in what we're doing and how we're spending our time every day, what we're doing every 30 minutes of the day. Um, so, you know, I definitely got really into that. And just at first you could kind of see how you would spend your time and how it wasn't productive, and you really don't really notice it or realize when you're doing it, but when you have to write it down and type it, and you're spending box at the box saying watching TV, watching TV, watching TV, it's like, man, like maybe I shouldn't be spending as much time watching TV. And that was a great thing for me is, uh, um, to be honest, I'm still not currently doing that right now, but I definitely do have better, uh, knowledge of what I'm doing and how I'm spending my time. But, you know, for that first year I did it, uh, I did it consistently for a year. I think you're helping. It really did help me in a lot of ways, seeing how I spend my time more productive,
Quincy Amarikwa (40:44):
I'd love that we can. I think for the longest time I thought I thought the problem was, uh, I thought the root problem was a financial problem, like of like, okay, everyone spends their time doing things to kind of, to make money or to earn money so that they can take vacation and start a business, invest in their futures, pay for school, whatever. Right. And I was going like, okay, a lot of people don't have a financial literacy so that, you know, I focused on building that, that first financial literacy course and, and sharing what I had learned and mistakes I've made and the real estate deals and all that stuff. And it wasn't necessarily resulting in what I thought it was until I really focusing. And I went, you know what, it's actually, it's a time literacy, literacy, uh, issue, right? Like it's like people, people, one, they don't know how to budget their money.
Quincy Amarikwa (41:36):
That's one problem. But worse is, people don't know how to budget their time, you know? And to the point that you're making is, you know, when you're not writing down where you spend your time, you literally don't see your time. You don't see it. So you don't even, you don't realize you are bleeding time. Right. Um, and, uh, once, once we put together that time management worksheet, I mean, for me, that was like the light bulb for me, in terms of like how I can better utilize my time as well too, is showcasing how guys can learn, how to budget and manage their time, their time for themselves. Um, and with you saying that, you know, is that you stuck to it for a year, that's massive, right. It becomes a habit. And now you can start thinking in terms of your time allocation and you don't necessarily have to write it every day to break up your day into 30 minutes segments.
Quincy Amarikwa (42:36):
Right. For sure. Um, it's a, it's an act, it's a practice in meditation it's own way because you have to be focused on a task for a certain duration of time. And it's a task that you might not necessarily enjoy because it's showing you where you fall short and literally have to confront it every day. Like you're looking at your BS every day and you're just like, okay, can I keep looking at this and still do it and not like, and then make excuses as to why that opportunity was because of someone else, you know? Um, no, it's beautiful. Uh, cause I was thinking with, uh, Earl, right. Earl's I think Earl's more my temperament like, go, go, go today. Yes. Okay. Go, go, go crash bird. Do it again. Uh, uh, and seeing, seeing you guys approach the time management sheet and the, the, uh, the feedback I get from you guys in terms of like hating it.
Quincy Amarikwa (43:40):
Yeah.
Quincy Amarikwa (43:46):
Is, you know, this is, this is stupid, you know what I mean? Like what's the point I don't see. And I go, yeah. Okay.
Quincy Amarikwa (43:58):
Yeah.
Quincy Amarikwa (43:58):
Yeah, man. Uh, it's, it's, it's uh, it's positive feedback. It's good to hear. Right. Cause like the feedback now is like, all right. Yeah, yeah. Like that was helpful. You know what I mean? I didn't enjoy it. I look at it like preseason, I didn't enjoy it. I didn't enjoy throwing up. Cause I ran too hard and I didn't have fun doing the beep test, but I am happy that I'm healthy in the middle of the year and I'm fit and I'm ready to, uh, destroy the team that we're playing on the weekend. You know? So, uh, yeah bro,
Quincy Amarikwa (44:31):
I did.
Quincy Amarikwa (44:32):
I didn't know. I didn't know you, uh, you utilized it for over a year, man. That's dope. I'd have to ask the girl Earl tapped out after, I don't know Earl. How, how long until you tapped out on the time management sheet, man, let's see. Uh,
Quincy Amarikwa (44:50):
No more crying.
Quincy Amarikwa (44:51):
Okay. Uh, John just said, keep out at every one time to get on that homework grind. I'm in your head. Uh, see you all next time. Thank you, Quincy. And thank you, Chris. So yeah, I think a lot of people are really enjoying this episode, man, and have taken up an awful lot of gems from you. Um, and I appreciate the time man. Umar said appreciate the answers brother. Um, Wessex uh, gave you three goat emojis all in a row
Quincy Amarikwa (45:19):
And that's my guy, friends man from second grade. Oh wow. Shout out West,
Quincy Amarikwa (45:27):
The most diesel a school teacher.
Quincy Amarikwa (45:30):
Okay.
Quincy Amarikwa (45:36):
I love that role. He's got to start Instagram account bro. Just flex them on everybody.
Quincy Amarikwa (45:42):
Uh,
Quincy Amarikwa (45:42):
Let's see. Okay. Joe Jackson said, yo Quincy, that's the next challenge. Try to fill out the time management cheat every day for six months, I liked that we could do that. Um, uh, uh, last week, um, last week we had our first winner of the 10 pushup challenge. Um, what, what it was was I challenged our, our followers to say, okay, all you have to do in this offer still stands. All you have to do is 10 pushups every day without and not miss a day for six months, you do that. You get some free perfect soccer Merck. And uh, I think has been like two years sentence going on and we've only had one, one person she's made it so far. Uh it's it's it's easy physically. It's difficult mentally. Um, let's see. Earl had said, I remember not wanting to tell you, uh, why the time sheet was hard to embarrassing.
Quincy Amarikwa (46:42):
Yeah.
Quincy Amarikwa (46:42):
Uh, okay. Earl said I actually lasted a little over a year. Okay. That's decent. I just took a short hiatus early on. Cause I wasn't ready for all that. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I avoided you for two weeks. Uh, yeah. I love that. The part of the, the part of the process where everyone I work with goes on a hiatus. It just ignores me and sends me no messages. It just doesn't look me in the eye for however long. And I'm like, uh, okay. Uh, I guess either I'll never talk to them again or there'll be back around once they they've calmed down or
Quincy Amarikwa (47:23):
Okay.
Quincy Amarikwa (47:24):
I love that. Right. Okay. Uh, now I, I love time, man. We've got, let's say we've got about 10 more minutes here before. Uh, we'll. We'll wrap up the hour here. Uh let's uh, keep it more. I know we've gone deep on a lot of things. What what's uh, so some foams fun stories or, uh, something that stands out to you during our time in, um, during our time in 2019, like couples share a couple of stories, uh, that you thought were, were ridiculous. Stupid, funny, sad. Uh, w what do you got?
Quincy Amarikwa (48:01):
Definitely some funny moments. Um, one off the top of my head is, is your introduction to the team, but, uh, with the presentation and then Earl, the reason why Earl awarded you for first couple of months, and that's, that's always a funny story. You can tell this story.
Quincy Amarikwa (48:22):
No. Okay. All right. So why do you, you remember it? Like, Oh, okay. I've never, okay. I've never heard from your perspective, so, okay. I'll give a quick background story on that. Right. So for those who don't know, Earl essentially like blew me off for the first, like three months. So like Earl had said in the, in the comments there, uh, Chris Earl and myself were right next to each other as locker mates while I was at DC. Right. But for the first three months, Earl just ignored my existence. Thought I was the dumbest person who ever existed and just wrote me off right from the beginning. And he wrote me off because of a joke I made at the, uh, MLS, like introduction presentation, where they, they go over all the things you can, you and things you can, and can't say on the board and the guy who was giving the presentation was saying every word and doing everything, but avoided saying the N word. Right.
Quincy Amarikwa (49:20):
You know, and I can tell he's on the hot seat and he really wanted to move on from it. And I had raised my hand and he is, Oh, okay. Quincy called me and said, Hey, what's that word? I, all the other words I've written out, but what about that, that, that word there? He said, which one was it? The end? That one, what does the word, what is that? And he was, he was just sitting there for a little bit before I was, I said, Oh, I thought it was, hell, I still think it's hilarious, bro.
Quincy Amarikwa (49:48):
I thought it was hilarious. I was dying. Like the,
Quincy Amarikwa (49:51):
Okay, well that's okay. I love that. So like, what was your experience? Because Earl thought it was the dumbest joke out of ti like wrote me off for three months. Uh, what, what were your, what were your thoughts?
Quincy Amarikwa (50:05):
Yeah, that was my first time. Cause this was like your first day, right? So no one really knows who you are. I don't know. I didn't really know you. And literally that's my first thing I hear you say is like, Oh, what's that N word up there. And gas trace and how Shirky was up there, man. I was laughing in the back of the room when, uh, you know, he gets to see in the locker room. Some people find it funny. Some people didn't Earl was obviously one who did not find that plenty at all to the point where he didn't want to talk to Quincy for like three months off of that one joke. But I thought it was funny,
Quincy Amarikwa (50:46):
Bro. You gotta shoot your shot, bro. Like, like, well, hopefully that, okay. So there's a lesson to be learned there. Like, Hey, there's, there's not much that you can't recover from. There's a, there's a path back, you know what I mean? Like, Hey,
Quincy Amarikwa (51:04):
Takes time to get there. You'll get back there.
Quincy Amarikwa (51:09):
Yeah. He said, yo, I'm crying. Oh man. Uh, okay. Uh, Oh, Joe Jackson. Yeah. I remember that story. Uh, Oh yeah. And Earl said, I'm sure you guys cover this. We did not yet. So I'm glad that you brought it up. Uh, but he said, Chris, congratulations again on the new contract. Uh, uh, for those who don't know, uh, Chris just signed his new deal with DC United, uh, ink, the deal. What? Little less than a week or two weeks ago. Okay.
Quincy Amarikwa (51:40):
Yeah. About a week and a half ago last week.
Quincy Amarikwa (51:44):
Well, congratulations on that. I know we're uh, we're just to see what 2020 has to has in store as well as beyond, um,
Quincy Amarikwa (51:54):
Appreciate her shout out to her for, uh, signing with new England.
Quincy Amarikwa (51:59):
Yes. Right? This man's making moves, bro. Hey, so what's uh, if uh, new England meets DC bro, this year who who's, who's coming away with the w yeah.
Quincy Amarikwa (52:13):
You already know, you probably know Aero already knows to come on, man. Next, next question. Next question.
Quincy Amarikwa (52:32):
EMA cover for you, bro. Bro, bro email. Still. He still has to come talk to me yet, bro. You tell this man, bro. He's not yay. EMA. Where you at, bro? Where are you back? Oh man. I love that. Oh, okay. Uh, Dania. Any other stories? Any, any other ones that come to mind?
Quincy Amarikwa (52:57):
I'm not sure. What about you? You, you have any off the top of your,
Quincy Amarikwa (53:01):
Uh, let me, uh, let me think. Oh, uh, I'll let you think while I see Earl now Earl's show throwing his shots. I know he's wishing he could three way call in on this is 1996, weights, eight wins in any trophies. Um, man, I hope, I hope I ended up getting back into the Emma MSL. I've always been in the MSL bro, but getting back to the FLS road just so I can show up to you guys to cities and just talk mad
Quincy Amarikwa (53:43):
Marrow, man. We all, we always go back and forth on trash talk and especially like football, you know, he's a big, uh, chargers fan. I'm a big football team, Washington football team fan. So, you know, we always go back forth on that fantasy football. So we will always talk trash to each other.
Quincy Amarikwa (54:04):
Is it, it doesn't mean anything unless we're, unless there's putting something on the line bro. And Earl said he seen EMA today looking like a beast. Don't be scared to get outta here. Uh, uh, Chris, Chris always ends with you. Got it. Uh, yo okay. No, what we'll do we'll table it. I appreciate that, man. Uh, this has been a good life. I'm glad we got to wrap a bit, uh, share, share a bit of what's going on, make some amazing announcement, uh, announcements and I'm looking forward to, uh, you join into perfect soccer team here, moving forward. We'll figure out, you know, how that will look and, um, what you'll be involved with. I'm sure the fans will see you on a live here or something. Uh, you guys, if you've got any questions or ideas, make sure you send them in contact@perfectsoccerskills.com. Um, we'll, uh, we'll be getting clips in the replay of this episode and published on next Tuesday.
Quincy Amarikwa (55:13):
So for those of you who miss out on the lives, you got to wait some time before you get to re download any of the knowledge. Um, uh, shout out to, uh, Chris again for joining in today. And for those of you who haven't yet, make sure you go to perfect soccer skills.com/subscription, get your perfect soccer subscription. You'll get access to all of our books, tools, training center, uh, training resources, uh, the time management sheet that, uh, Chris is talking about. The, um, the perfect soccer player blueprint, the ultimate college soccer recruiting blueprint, the goalkeeper, uh, blueprint. Oh man, I'm trying to think of all the stuff we've got the pro weekly now, uh, beginner, intermediate and advanced, um, at-home private, uh, personalized training programs, uh, every week, every Sunday. So all seven days of the week, that includes mentality training. Um, as well as we'll, we're setting up a weekly zoom training sessions and deep dive, uh, private MSL sessions, uh, just like this.
Quincy Amarikwa (56:12):
So, um, there's a lot that comes with that perfect soccer subscription. We're also including the monthly subscription comes with a free perfect soccer mini ball. A year subscription comes with the perfect soccer match ball. You hit a perfect soccer, uh, uh, resume. So, uh, your own website with, uh, edited services and a highlight tape and all that to promote yourselves, to coaches and, um, uh, teams to get scouted plus a breakdown of how to reach out to college coaches, um, professional coaches, agents, and, uh, get yourself promoted, promoted, properly marketed. So you can play with the team of your choice. The purpose soccer subscription comes with a whole bunch of stuff. I'm, I'm missing a bunch of things. Um, I get so wrapped up in, uh, getting to the, uh, the mindset, the strategies and all of that, that I, I always forget to promote where everybody can get access to everything. So I wanted to make sure I take a, took a moment to let everybody know about the perfect soccer subscription. Uh, thank, uh, Chris again for joining in, um, man, everyone's spamming that heart button. They're loving this, uh, the drop and I'm in the head emojis for you, Chris, uh, before, before you take off here, is there anything you, uh, you were wanting to, uh, share, promote, um, let the followers know about, uh, to where they, where can they follow you? Um, yeah,
Quincy Amarikwa (57:31):
Yeah, no, uh, I only have Instagram, so you can find me there. Chris underscore I'll Dewey a chain, uh, but like Quincy said, I'll be involved with, uh, purpose soccer going forward. So I'll be seeing a lot of you guys a lot more often. So thanks again, Quincy for having me on the day. Appreciate talking to you as always. And we'll talk soon. Thanks again, bro.
Quincy Amarikwa (57:58):
Yo, that is, uh, that's massive. Uh, love, always love wrapping with Chris. A shout out to everybody who stopped by and joined in and, and shared their thoughts. Um, Popa said the live today though, uh, cry face emoji, uh, soccer dad for life that had a good have a good night. Have a good night. Thanks. Thanks for stopping by Joe Jackson, uh, had said was a great life. Thank you both have a great week. Of course. Thanks for stopping by as always, uh, Umar, uh, dropped diamond, your head emojis, Pope bus at another great episode down, uh I'm in your head emojis, Joe Jackson would be Jesus' hands. And, uh, Ryan Rodriguez said I'm a fan here in Brazil. So as always we're international, this works in all markets all over the world. This is the, the global mentality update and you guys are along for the ride. I appreciate everybody for joining in tuning in big shout out again to Chris. Um, and as he said, he'll be, you'll be seeing him here more as time goes on. And as always everybody I'm in your head, see you next week.