Time to be great.
Tom Brady
Tom Brady is a professional football player, a quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. By any measure, Brady is one of the very best ever at what he does and is on an awful lot of shortlists of the very best team sport athletes ever. He has led his team to eight Super Bowls and has won five of them and today’s quote came from this past Super Bowl, stolen from a video that had Brady, and many others, wearing a microphone. Brady was about to take the field late in a Super Bowl that saw his team trailing, hardly uncharted waters and a dragon Brady has slain more than once.
What struck us about this quote was the matter-of-fact way Brady said it. It was the same way you or I might have announced it was time to mow the lawn or take the trash out: it was not a big deal, something that is done as a matter of course. Brady had been great in the past and he probably expected to be great here. As it was, of course, greatness wasn’t there for Brady that day, which happens from time to time because we’re humans, not images on stained glass windows.
Time to be great…
Greatness is not reserved for those on TV, it is there for us mortals, too. Brady has done nothing more than follow the same rules for success that we can. He is great because he knows what he is about, has been willing to put the required work in and has shown the patience to see that work rewarded. We can do that, too. It isn’t easy, but it isn’t particularly difficult, either.
First, we must have the wisdom to know the lives we were meant to live. This means dismissing the clutter of outside influences to know what our hearts are telling us to do. Then we must have the courage to go and do that, to live the life we were meant to live and to do it every day. Doing it some days and not others, some years and not others, will not get the job done. Finally, we must have the patience to see our journey through to the very end, to not be satisfied with our attainments and not be discouraged by our reverses.
Following these rules will result in the life we were meant to live. Our results may or may not be shown on TV, but they will show up in the attainments and satisfactions that attend everyday life and, when greatness is required, we can count on delivering it.
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