Who is Tom Brady? How has he become the greatest American Football Player of all time? I share my thoughts on how Tom Brady keeps performing at the highest level and what makes his performance and durability so great.
For those of us who don’t know, he’s arguably the best NFL quarterback to ever play the game. At age 41, Tom has been playing with the Patriots for 17 years and counting. His biggest accolades include:
- 6x Time Superbowl Champion (The most of any quarterback in current NFL history)
- 4x Time Superbowl MVP (Most Valuable Player)
- 3x NFL MVP
- Most Superbowl Appearances in NFL history (9)
While those are amazing accomplishments; it’s his impressive durability, routine and mental preparation that has led him to success. This had a great impact this season, with The New England Patriots winning the 2019 Superbowl. Silencing any doubt that he was the greatest NFL quarterback of all time.
The NFL is a challenging, demanding league. It’s where the best of the best play American Football. As a quarterback, you are the marquee player of the team. You are the leader, the driver and hold extreme responsibility for your teams performance. So how does Tom Brady still continue to achieve such great success and keep performance and his mental toughness at the highest level?
Trains The Brain
In addition to Tom’s physical performance, his brain performance is equally as important. Brady values keeping his mind sharp and on point, so he incorporates brain exercises and mindfulness into his daily routine. One of his simplest, but biggest ways to train the brain is to go to bed at 9pm, waking up at 6am, which Tom refers to as “9 hours of uninterrupted therapy and regeneration”.
Tom also uses neuroscience to train his body into developing new and improved habits for success. In his book, The TB12 Method: How To Achieve A Lifetime Of Sustained Peak Performance, Tom quotes;
“To create stronger, faster connections in our brains, we need to practice a habit skill or behaviour again and again. The more we practice that habit, skill or behaviour, the more automatically our brains recognise it”
This quote does not reflect on just sport, but in any form of success and performance. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, author or are simply setting yourself goals for yourself, creating the right habits is crucial in getting the outcome you set for yourself.
Finds His Own Motivation
We all find our motivation from different sources. Tom Brady’s motivation doesn’t come from winning or even losing. When asked, it was his teammates that keep driving him forward. On what motivates Tom, he was quoted ‘Doing the best I can to put my teammates in the best position possible’. His motivation differs from former basketball player and 5 time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant, where he quotes “People just don’t understand how obsessed i am with winning”. Kobe’s motivation was winning. These are two incredible athletes in their respective sports, motivated in different ways. By finding our own motivation, we are able to envision our performance and stay on track, achieving our greater potential.
Believes In Himself
How often have we been told to ‘believe in yourself’, without actually taking some time out to reflect and understand how, or what this really means. I’m convinced that when you believe in yourself, you are believing in the work of what you can accomplish in the ultimate way. Tom Brady was never destined, or never thought to be the best quarterback of all time when he was first drafted in the year 2000. He was drafted in the 6th Round, which meant there were 5 other quarterback players ahead of him where teams believed they would get more value from. In all honesty, he was a sympathy pick. No one believed he would have the kind of impact he’s had, except for Tom. The reason- he believed in himself. He’s now the greatest clutch moment player in the NFL, not cracking under pressure and making plays to win titles, as well as being the oldest quarterback to ever win a Superbowl.
“IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, WHY IS ANYONE GOING TO BELIEVE IN YOU?”
– Tom Brady
If there’s one thing we can take away from Tom Brady’s success and performance, is that we should never let our setbacks and other peoples opinions define our success and what it looks like to us.