BLOG: A Positive State of Mind

It has been exactly a month since the Patriots completed the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. 

Trailing 21-3 at halftime, everyone was stunned. Commentators couldn't believe it. Was the Falcons' offense really this good? Or was the Patriots defense really not as a good as they thought they were? Then they went up by 25 points early in the third quarter and most fans - including many in Patriots nation - thought the Pats were done. 

Despite scoring a touchdown down in the third quarter to bring the game to 28-9 - thanks to a missed field goal that clanked off the left upright - it still didn't feel as if the Pats were going to come back. That drive ate up five minutes of the clock and by the time it was over there was just 2:23 left in the third quarter. 

The Pats were going to need to come up huge if they were going to walk out of Houston with their fifth Lombardi. And they did just that. 

Their defense got the turnover it needed with Dont'a Hightower strip-sacking Matt Ryan and the Patriots recovering in Falcons territory. New England was on the field for 10 minutes in the the final quarter of regulation and taxing out an already tired Atlanta defense. It's no wonder the Falcons gave up 41 yards in the final two minutes leading to the game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion. The Falcons defense was gassed, they knew it, their coaches knew it and everyone in the stadium knew it. 

So when the Patriots  won the coin toss in overtime, it was over. The Falcons defense was tired and Tom Brady picked them a part like the Varsity team playing the Freshman squad en route to their fifth Lombardi trophy and solidify Brady as the greatest quarterback of all time. 

Coming back from a 25-point hole with less than 30 minutes play was a tall task. But it really wasn't insurmountable.

It's like climbing a mountain. At the base, looking up the peak seems so far away and you begin to think "I'll never make it all the way up there." But little by little, setting small, incremental goals, that peak is getting closer and closer. "Maybe just maybe, I'll get there." A few more goals later you keep getting closer and closer to that summit. Then it really starts to become truly believable and that point, you know you've already made it and will make it to the top. 

Going back to my political science days, it's one of the reasons I love the goal-oriented incremental policy model. You're setting a big goal that is virtually unattainable but you keep getting closer and closer by reaching the small, incremental goals along the way. It's those goals that make you want to keep going. 

As a previous baseball coach I worked with said "little drops make big drops." Yes we were filling up a water cooler without a hose but it was definitely the truth. The little things add up to the big things. 

Turning back to football, this is what Tom Brady and Julian Edelman live for. The pair love proving the doubters wrong. The days when Brady was that sixth round 199th draft pick with a "poor build, skinny, lacks great physical stature and strength, lacks mobility and ability to avoid the rush, lacks a really strong arm, can't drive the ball downfield, does not through a really tight spiral. A system type player who can get exposed if forced to ad lib, gets knocked down easily." Then you have Edelman who many didn't think he'd play in the NFL. 

But when you're faced with these doubters, you have two choices: you can listen to them and prove them right or you can get to work and prove them wrong. It's your choice. It's always your choice. 

One of the ways Brady has found success was discussed in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated's Monday Morning Quarterback. He's proclaims himself to be a positive person and does not want to "give away his power." While many in Patriots nation - even possibly including the owner of the team - thought of this season as a revenge tour, it was far from that for Brady.

If Brady viewed this past season and motivated to seek revenge against Roger Goodell for an unjust four-game suspension for "having general awareness of deflating the footballs," then he's giving up his power to Goodell. That's the last  thing he wants to do. 

When you're angry or upset with someone, the easiest thing to do is to lash-out at them but while it may feel good in the short-term, it's only hurting yourself in the long-term. Everyone is entitled to have a negative thoughts when things don't go their way but it's up to you to make sure those negative thoughts don't spiral into a negative mind. 

It's not an easy thing to accomplish and it is certainly not something that can be mastered. It takes a lot of time and effort and must be worked on everyday or risk falling behind. Brady has certainly mastered the task of training his brain and mental state to focus on the positive in all aspects of his life. That's why he's a five-time Super Bowl Champion and four-time Super Bowl MVP with a super model wife, living the great life in Chestnut Hill.