After his second year at Michigan, Tom Brady wanted to transfer.
He wasn't playing in games, and he was so low on the depth chart that he only got 2 reps in practice.
Brady met with his coach to express his frustration, “The other quarterbacks get all the reps.”
Coach replied,
“Brady, I want you to stop worrying about what all the other players on our team are doing. All you do is worry about what the starter is doing, what the second guy is doing, what everyone else is doing. You don't worry about what you're doing.”
Coach reminded him, “You came here to be the best. If you're going to be the best, you have to beat out the best.”
And then he recommended that Brady start meeting with Greg Harden, a sports psychologist who worked in Michigan's athletic department.
Brady went to Harden's office and whined, “I'm never going to get my chance. They're only giving me 2 reps.”
Harden simply replied, “Just go out there and focus on doing the best you can with those 2 reps. Make them as perfect as you possibly can.”
“So that's what I did,” Brady said. “They'd put me in for those 2 reps, man, I'd sprint out there like it was Super Bowl 39. 'Let's go boys! Here we go! What play we got?'”
“And I started to do really well with those 2 reps. Because I brought enthusiasm, I brought energy.”
Soon, it went from getting 2 reps to getting 4 reps. Then from 4 to 10, “and before you knew it,” Brady said, with this new mindset that Greg instilled in me—to focus on what you can control, to focus on what you're getting, not what anyone else is getting, to treat every rep like it's the Super Bowl—eventually, I became the starter.”
Takeaway 1:
Greg Harden telling Brady to just focus on being great during his 2 reps reminded me of a piece of advice from the entrepreneur Mark Cuban.
“People come to me all the time and tell me they're stuck,” Cuban explained. “They're stuck in a job they don't like. They're stuck working for a boss they don't like. They're stuck on a team they don't like.”
“I just tell them, 'Be great.'”
“The reality of life is that you can't just always quit your job. You can't just always go to your boss and say, 'Give me the promotion, or I'm out of here.'” You can't just always go to your coach and say, 'Give me more reps, or I'm transferring.'
“So when you're stuck, you've gotta find it within yourself to say, 'Ok, this is where I am. And if I'm going to be here, I'm going to be great.'
Because if you're great at your job, typically other people and companies find out, so it creates opportunities.”
Takeaway 2:
I've written before about “lead measures”—the actions and behaviors that predictably drive success.
The core characteristic of a lead measure, the authors of The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) write, is that “a lead measure is influenceable; it can be directly influenced by you.”
To achieve your goals, they recommend (echoing what the Michigan Coach told Brady), apply a disproportionate energy to the things that are in your control.
Starting at Michigan and for the rest of his career, that’s what Brady did, that’s what drove his success.
In his first media call after he was selected by the New England Patriots with the 199th pick in the 2000 draft, Brady was asked: “Are you aware that [along with starting quarterback, Drew Bledsoe] there’s another quarterback here that they drafted last year?”
Brady said he was aware of that. “And I know he’s a heck of a player,” Brady said. “But I’ve always really concerned myself just with the things I can control. I don’t put a lot of thinking into the other guys because I know I’m not at my best when I’m not just thinking about playing as well as I possibly can.”
- - -
“I never once in my life ever said I wanted to be the best of all time. Ever. I wanted to be the best I could be, period. I learned that in college. It didn’t matter what the other guys were doing. It mattered what I was doing.” — Tom Brady
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Looking for a big rebound! Sunday Night Hockey comes to Fairbanks tonight - 5:07 p.m. puck-drop!
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#ICYMI: Congratulations to #UAlbertaSPH associate professor @S_Montesanti who has been invited to act as a Women's Health Research Ambassador for @abwomenshealthand @WCHRIUofA, raising awareness of the need for, and expansion of, women’s health research.
#ThisIsPublicHealth
Reading 10 pages per day is 3,650 pages a year.
Running 6 miles per day is 2,190 miles a year.
Becoming 1% better per day is 37x better a year.
Making $100 per day is $36,500 a year.
Stop underestimating the power of small habits.
April 2nd is World Autism Acceptance Day! Autistics in our community have told us that acceptance is their preferred goal over awareness, and we agree. Help us change this language and work to create acceptance for everyone on the Autism Spectrum. #WAAD#AutismAcceptance
New work delivered today to @LoftGalleryArt I named this a “Lovely Day In Georgian Bay” 💕
I work from my photographs and this painting is based on my peaceful time spent kayaking in a little bay called Frying Pan in Georgian Bay on a happy summer day ☀️. Spring is coming!
March 10th is International Day of Women Judges, which recognizes the importance of the full and equal participation of women at all levels of the judiciary.
#InternationalDayOfWomenJudges
Myth:
Autism is a mental illness.
Fact:
Autism is a developmental disorder that affects how the brain processes information and is not a mental illness.