Wow, how great was Super Bowl LV? It was really amazing to watch as last night, Tom Brady solidified his spot as the GOAT (greatest of all time) as an NFL QB.
At 43 years old, Tom Brady became the first player to ever win seven Super Bowls. This past year he left the Patriots and joined a struggling Bucs team that was 7-9 last year. I think most people thought this would be the end of the Tom Brady we remembered with the Patriots. Nope. That was not the outcome Tom had envisioned for himself.
Clearly although he was on a new team, Tom was envisioning the same outcome he engineered throughout his career with the Patriots.
Is this luck? No, it’s not.
Last night, as I was watching Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, I flashed back to the infamous 2002 snow bowl game. It was the Patriots vs. the Raiders in the playoffs and I was there in person to see it. I was a Raiders fan (yes, I walked into Foxborough wearing a Jerry Rice Raiders jersey), and for most of the game, the Raiders were in control and had the lead. However in the waning moments of the game, I watched Tom Brady rise up and take my beloved Raiders down en route to his first Super Bowl victory. Right then and there I knew there was something about Tom Brady that was different. (And for years, I had this distaste for Tom Brady and the Patriots as a result.)
That distaste waned until it disappeared, as I have a tremendous amount of respect for what Tom has accomplished and how he accomplished it. You have to admire somebody who is ruthlessly committed to achieving their desired results in all areas of life. To do this you have to have vision, focus, plans, and powerful habits and routines.
Last night, I noticed Tom Brady’s routine on the sideline. He sat by himself, extremely focused. Almost meditative. His mindset resonated with me, because as a former athlete, I knew exactly what he was doing. Tom Brady was visualizing what he had to do next. He was going through, in his head, the sequencing of plays and how he would execute.
Tom Brady was visualizing his success.
During the game, the announcers spoke about how Tom Brady was the first player on the field many hours earlier. He was out there alone, looking around. My guess is this was also part of his visualization routine, during which he was cultivating his own witness for what was to come later that night: a victory for the Bucs on the back of a strong performance by him as QB.
Tom Brady was setting the stage for a win, priming his own pump.
Recently, my children’s school had the kids perform the Pink song “A Million Dreams” during a Friday assembly. They started the performance by talking about how we can each achieve anything and everything we want to achieve.
There is no dream that is too big. There is nothing we cannot do. And every dream starts with us.
During the assembly, they proclaimed, “Be the change you want to see in the world if you want to change the world.” A forward looking statement requiring visualization.
Children who believe they can succeed will succeed. I cannot help but think how all GOATS learn this lesson early in life. But it is not a lesson for children alone. Each of us – no matter our age – can succeed.
You have to believe you can succeed. Without a doubt, it all starts with you, inside of you, in your dreams.
“Dream” is another word for “goal.” Just like dreams, goals benefit from visualization. When you visualize your goals, establish your plan, develop your habits and routines around that plan and stay focused, any goal becomes possible to achieve.
Create your future inside your own head, and live there as if it has happened already. Convince yourself that you can, and you will. In doing this, you create an incredible sense of presence around what you're doing now.
We can all be GOATS in our own way by learning from Tom Brady and others we see achieve greatness. Last night, we were reminded that we all have the power to make the impossible possible.