Six Life Lessons We Can Learn from the Patriots

Winning the Super Bowl is an amazing accomplishment, but this year the Patriot’s victory was particularly sweet.  With all the noise and accusations about “deflategate” plenty of people were doubting the Pats.  The Seahawks are a tough team and the Patriots needed focus.  Yet, being the optimist and the eternal believer in NE sports teams, I took Monday off as a scheduled vacation day.  Cheers and celebration rolled late into the night, but I sprang out of bed with excitement and vigor early Monday morning long before my alarm.  I couldn’t wait to get to the stores to buy the Super Bowl Champs shirts for the NE Davis Employees and head to the office to share the hype.

New England was blanketed with a beautiful fresh coat of pure white snow.  I grabbed my coffee and watched and listened as the Seattle-loving media newscasters choked through their broadcasts about the Patriot’s victory. I was waiting to hear everyone talk about just how spectacular the Patriots are and how Belichick and Brady are two of the most incredible athletes to ever play the game; but that was not the story.  Instead, all the news stories were focused not on the victory but on that last bad play call of the Seattle Seahawks.  Oh and quietly a new story is surfacing that maybe, just maybe, the balls in the AFC Championship game weren’t all that deflated after all…nice timing.

Anyway….all the negativity about the Pats has made me really notice just what remarkable victors they really are.    Despite all the distraction, alleged scandal and name calling; the Patriots stayed the course.  They controlled the controllable.  They snarled in the face of the adversity and they truly rose above the challenge.  I am inspired.  The lessons that greats like Bill Belichick and Tom Brady can teach us are numerous.

1. Know your competition; study them closely, study the films, learn their habits; strengths and weaknesses so you can anticipate their every move and be nimble enough to respond when their change up their play book.
2. Prepare for everything and expect the unexpected; With 20 seconds left on the clock; when everyone expected Seattle to win, a bad pass gave Butler the chance for a game winning interception.  He capitalized on the moment because he was prepared and read the play dead to rights.
3. Play as a team and work together; You need everyone working together; coaches, QB, LB’s, RB’s, special teams, Veterans and even un-drafted rookies can and do step up to make amazing plays.
4. Control what you can control; you may not be able to control the media or errant fire alarms in the middle of the night  but you can control how you respond and prepare.  You can control your plays, your polish, and your poise under pressure – I’m sure media day was not very much fun for the Pats this year but still they stepped up and kept control.
5. Be humble and grateful for the blessings that come your way; every single member of the NE Patriots Team has worked intensely hard to reach this mile stone; yet watch them…you will not see arrogance, you will see humble appreciation.  Even while accepting the MVP of the game, Tom Brady was sure to point to his teammates for making the success possible – you win and lose as a team.
6. Celebrate your wins with childlike exuberance – if you’re not sure what I mean just watch the films of Gronk and Brady jumping and dancing with absolutely enormous smiles from ear to ear. Their emotions were pure and true and completely in the moment.  They were not taunting or throwing the win in the face of the Seahawks it was just raw fun.

 Thank you Patriots.  It may have been a blizzard in New England on Monday, but the your victory warmed our hearts and taught the world some great life lessons.