What Do You Do When You Win?

This will be another blog inspired by the life and times of the GOAT Tom Brady, and especially his leadership within The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their epic 2020 season, which will culminate in a historic SuperBowl 55 where The Bucs will both host and play. No NFL Team has ever played a SuperBowl in their own stadium before.

     I was hoping and believing this would be the blog I got to write today but, in truth, I was also prepared to write “What Do Yo Do When You Lose?”. 

While writing this one is funner, either would be equally educational and edifying.

   What we do when we win and when we lose is one of the most useful indicators of what separates the best from the rest.

I guarantee that Tom Brady wouldn’t spend too much time crying about it had he lost.

   He’d have licked his wounds for a day and then started analyzing why. He’d learn from the loss and then immediately focus on the next game (as he did each loss all season) or on the next season (as he would if he lost in the playoffs).

But as he won this blog is about what The GOAT does when he wins.

     I’d be willing to bet he doesn’t spend too much time celebrating either; he celebrates for a day and then gets about Focusing on the next game. Right now Brady is already thinking about what he and his team have to do to win in the Superbowl. 

It is my contention that all elite performers have these similar habits, which lead to their success.

1. Neither spend too much time in celebration nor regret. WIN
   1. Celebrate success but don’t spend too much time there. There are new challenges to conquer daily.
   2. It’s OK to be upset when we lose, as long as we don’t wallow. 
   3. I either win or I learn and, with that as the standard, we can really never lose until we quit.
   4. The WIN principle- always be asking “What’s Important Next?”.
2. FOCUS the super-power.
   1. The best aren’t only not derailed by the joy of victory, not the victory of defeat, but they don’t allow anything else to distract them from their goals either.
   2. It takes laser beam focus to create excellence in anything.  
3. TEAM WORK.
   1. TEAM- Together Everyone Achieves More.
   2. Do not miss the second word; everyone on the Team must WORK, applying their individual strengths and abilities towards the common goal.
   3. Consider this year’s Bucs. It was a stroke of corporate genius to bring Brady and other great players together that assembled and worked towards becoming the champion team.
   4. Consider Brady’s leadership, as well as the coach’s, in training that team to win.
   5. Consider both play-off games. Brady’s offense was formidable but could not have won without the considerable contributions of the defense. Every player pulled his weight.
   6. As leaders, our job is to develop the best on each of our teams and raise them to interdependent excellence.
   7. As players, our part is to do our part, and hold ourselves to the highest standards at the position we play.
4. Hunger and Humility.
   1. Even after 20 successful seasons and 9 Super Bowls, Brady is still hungry for his next win. When that hunger leaves him, he needs to step down. We believe he’s got a few more in him.
   2. But even after winning six super bowls before and even with so many calling him the GOAT and saying that he “single-handedly” turned the Bucs around, you never hear him say such things himself. He gives credit to the rest of the team and he focuses on working hard to win the next thing with them.
5. CONFIDENCE and COMMITMENT.
   1. Have you seen the way Tom throws a football? Sometimes he throws it for beautiful plays and amazing touchdowns; and sometimes he throws an interception. But he always expects the prior and is always surprised by the latter and, either way, continues to throw with confidence. What of the GOAT shut down each time his passes were intercepted?
   2. Coupled with that confidence is his steadfast commitment to the game and his team, and their joint commitment to win the superbowl. Next week he will again win or lose, but either way he’ll stay a winner by applying these five traits.

WIN, Focus, Teamwork, Confidence & Commitment are all Blackbelt Leadership Principles of Krav Maga Martial Arts by the way.

  Like the physical characteristics of a Blackbelt, these attributes neither come naturally; 

     They too are honed in the fire of training.

Not even the GOAT became great by accident.

      He worked to become the best, on Purpose.

And you or I may not ever win a super bowl, 

    But we can become the best that we can be in the arena we are called to do so by applying these same winning principles to our game.

Proud to be on The Quest with you!

   Grand Master Stephen Del Castillo

7th Degree Blackbelt, MBA