I know many people
outside of New England are tired of seeing the New England Patriots playing in
the Super Bowl. There are a lot of reasons why the Pats dominate so much but I
believe we can apply a couple things Tom Brady said in the post-game
interview of the 2019 NFL’s AFC Championship (in which the New England
Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs 37-31). We can apply these ideas not just to
sports but how we live. I’ve provided his response to a reporter’s question
with key words in bold.
Q: How do you stay so calm in the biggest moments,
especially when your team is down and you have to drive the team right back?
BRADY: “Part of playing sports is just
staying in the moment. We always say
one play at a time and you can’t make up
for things that happen in the past. You just have to think about what you are
going to do moving forward. Start of the fourth quarter, they scored. We
are up three to start the fourth quarter. What a great opportunity to be against this team and to be ahead three in
the fourth quarter with a chance to win is pretty sweet. They blew so many
teams out this year. It is just a great
opportunity for us, and we took advantage of it.”
His first point, staying
in the moment, is key. I’ve seen players and teams get desperate or angry when
losing or when calls go against them then try for plays or shots that aren’t
part of their normal repertoire. They’re upset about what just happened then
try to make up for it by hitting the ball harder or going for shots they don’t
“own.” For instance, in tennis (the sport with which I’m most familiar because
I play it almost daily) I’ve seen players go for a shot or an angle that they
normally wouldn’t try if they were ahead. Instead, they often end up making an
unforced error, which only makes things worse. (I know because I’ve done
it!)
As Brady says it’s
better to forget about past mistakes or calls that go against you and focus on
two things: stay in the moment while thinking of what you’re going to do next.
One tip I use in tennis after making a mistake is to tell myself, “Next time”
while making a couple shadow swings on how I wanted to hit the shot that I just
missed. “Next time” means I’m telling myself I’ll do it better the next time I
have the chance. This attitude implicitly represents a focus on the process rather
than the results. It also reflects their confidence in themselves. And, it also
means that their self-esteem isn’t tied to the outcome. Sure, it doesn’t feel
good to lose but someone like Brady or Federer just use the loss as motivation
to learn from what happened and try to improve. (This also reflects something I’ve
written about in a previous post: the difference between having a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset.)
Later Brady said that
the Pats had a “great opportunity” when starting the fourth quarter with a
three point lead over a team that was seeded #1 and had beaten other teams by
large margins. I find it interesting that he didn’t say it was a challenge or
that they were nervous. This is one of the qualities I’ve noticed with
champions like the Brady, the Patriots or, switching to tennis again, Roger Federer.
They are unflappable. They see facing a
tough opponent as an opportunity to excel rather than a challenge for which
they might not be good enough.
So what accounts for
this calmness? I’d say these factors: focus on the present, confidence in
yourself without tying the outcome to your self-esteem and a process-oriented
mentality.
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