Just saying or thinking the words “massive success” is enough to intimidate some. But isn’t it amazing that the difference between winning and losing is often minimal?
It looked like the New England Patriots, the likely candidates to win the NFL World Championships were going to tank and Matt Ryan’s Falcons would have one of the greatest upsets in football history.
Going into the fourth quarter the Falcons were up 28-9 and for those of you who do not understand football, the only likely way the Patriots could come back was to go for an unprecedented three touchdowns, including two touchbacks, to tie the game and force overtime for the first time ever in Super Bowl history.
As the clock ticked, the infallible Tom Brady, looked calm and relaxed.
His players, who previously had failed to give him an adequate pocket, suddenly stepped up to the challenge.
Receivers who had either fumbled the ball or simply missed the pass, started to catch the ball with relative ease.
No team had ever come back from that large of a deficit and yet the New England Patriots made history with only moments left in the came as they scored a touchdown with another two point conversion.
In the end, The Patriots won the coin toss for overtime possession and scored the decisive touchdown to win their second Super Bowl in three years.
I was at The Super Bowl in 2015 where the game also came down to the last breath-stopping minutes and an interception by The Patriots sealed the deal against the Seattle Seahawks.
As someone who teaches productivity, the bottom line is this – you may be down but that doesn’t mean you are out.
You can come back from a deficit and the key is not to panic, maintain your focus on the goal, rally your team, and breathe. We can all achieve incredible things in five minutes or less.
If The Patriots had panicked, given up, or failed to remain motivated on the desired outcome, we would have a different result.
The same holds true for us – all things are possible when the right mindset is combined with the right work ethic.
The New England Patriots have a rally cry, ‘do your job.’
If you are up against what seems like insurmountable odds then take a breath and do your job.
We are all capable of much more than the world, or our minds, give us credit for.
Take a page from The Patriots playbook and show the world that even though it appears that you are never going to come back from a setback, you are ultimately going to triumph.
Victories are sweet however the victories where we were discounted are even sweeter.
Susan Sly is a keynote speaker, best-selling author, entrepreneur, and mother of five. She resides in Scottsdale, Arizona. Susan is available for corporate consulting, and speaking, on the topics of work-life balance, time management, productivity, and transcending challenges.
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