Tom Brady just helped lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl championship. This was his first year with the Buccaneers. He nows has seven Super Bowl wins and has appeared in the big game an amazing 10 times during his 21-year career.
He has more championships than any TEAM in NFL history. Most people consider him the GOAT – the greatest of all time.
However, it is easy to forget that he wasn’t always the greatest. He didn’t just pop out of the womb and it was all rainbows and butterflies after that. He had to work to get to where he is at.
Now, it wasn’t like he stunk and became the greatest underdog story ever. No, it’s not quite that. However, he was where a lot of us are in our careers. He had some talent but he wasn’t THE MOST talented player on his team on a number of occasions.He had to persevere, work harder, and stay focused.
For instance, he was the backup quarterback on his 9th-grade team – a team that went 0-8. His team didn’t even win a game and he couldn’t even get on the field.
He would eventually become good enough to get a scholarship to the University of Michigan, but when he arrived on campus, there were 6 quarterbacks ahead of him on the depth chart.
He would go on to throw a total of 20 passes in his first two seasons. In fact, his very first pass as a Wolverine was intercepted and returned for a touchdown.
During those two years, he didn’t quit. Didn’t transfer. Didn’t cause a scene. Instead, he just kept improving and preparing for his opportunity whenever it might come.
Even during his senior year, he and hotshot freshman Drew Hensen split quarters for the first five games until Brady was able to win the job outright. He was the 199th player picked in the NFL draft and played only because All Pro Drew Bledsoe got hurt.
From there, however, it was all TB12 legend.
Yes, we all know that you can’t be great without some sort of talent. But talent alone is never enough. Talent alone doesn’t make you great.
We may never go from good-to-G.O.A.T. but we can be like Brady by making the best of things and making the most of our opportunities, rather than making excuses and not being prepared for our opportunities.