Life Lesson from Drew Brees…
I was watching SportsCenter this morning as they were interviewing Drew Brees on the “On the Road to Camp” Bus that’s touring around the country from training camp to training camp. I wanted to share something that he said that I think is extremely important for all of our lives, not just for the Super Bowl Champ Quarterback of the New Orleans Saints:
Drew was asked about the inherent challenges that come along with trying to repeat (winning another Super Bowl). He said, “I’d say that the biggest thing is everyday just try to get a little bit better and also continue to focus on the little things and don’t let those little things slide. I think the temptation, or I think human nature would tell you that after you kinda reach that pinnacle of success that all of a sudden you get back to work and then you know those little things happen that in the past you would have squashed immediately, but now you kinda say ahhhh you know we’ll fix it later, you know we’ll fix it on game day, we’ll figure it out. You know you can’t do that, you gotta make sure that you’re constantly critiquing yourself and trying to get better each day.”
I think this is not just important football advice, but important LIFE advice. Our lives are a product of a series of choices…day in and day out. We make choices every single day that affect the current and future position and outcome of our lives…and most of these are not major decisions…they are small ones. These decisions cumulatively add up over time to create the BIG ISSUES that we have…but most of those major issues started out as a series of day-to-day small decisions that if chosen wisely, could have prevented some of these major problems we accumulate. What I think we can learn from Drew here is that we CAN’T postpone the little stuff and say to ourselves that we’ll handle it later…when it really counts. It Counts NOW! If anyone has ever competed in any kind of competition you know that our performance reflects our practice. You can’t just show up at So You Think You Can Dance without ample practice and the difference between the final 3 or 4 often comes down to their attention to detail…their practice and perfection of the little things. If we want to have a better outcome in life, we can’t just let the little things slide…we have to practice making those good choices with regard to the little things.
I talk to a lot of people (I mean a LOT…just ask my wife) and I hear all kinds of life stories packed full of issues. I try to sympathize and empathize with them as much as possible…but so often their unfortunate life situations are clearly just a product of some bad choices…as are parts of mine. Just take a few minutes to look into your own life and ask yourself, “what issues or areas of my life can be positively affected by making smarter, more responsible choices?” Then start paying more attention to the little things…the little choices that add up over time…and make it a goal to try to get better each and every day.
