Regardless of whether your team won the Super Bowl or which commercial was your favorite, maybe you think most of the players on the field Sunday were highly-recruited, sought-after talent like Giants quarterback, Eli Manning. The team with the largest linemen or tallest receivers wins, right?
Nope.
The New England Patriots line-up included 7 players who weren’t even drafted as rookies while the New York Giants had 8. The Patriots’ 53-man roster only included 25 players they drafted and the Giants had 26. Almost half of each team was picked up off of waivers, after being cut by another team, or part of a trade. Other teams rejected them, but the two teams in this year’s Super Bowl gave them a chance and they succeeded.
How did they do it? And what can you learn from them that will help you Work Positive and be a winner in your game of business?
Work Hard
Center Dan Connolly was signed by the Patriots in September 2007 after he was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He spent that season on the Patriots practice squad. In 2008, he played in one game. He started on Super Bowl Sunday.
“I take a lot of pride in knowing that I and a lot of other guys have come from kind of nothing. We’ve had to work hard to get where we’re at,” Connolly says.
How do you work hard in your business? To be a winner like Connolly, going from cut to Super Bowl starter, you choose to disregard that you come from nothing and focus on your championship goals. You do more with less. You innovate. You disrupt. You focus on what’s most important. You work hard.
Have Urgency
Matt Slater, a fifth-round draft pick by New England in 2008, sees similarities between all the players who overcome being drafted in the late rounds, not being drafted or being cut by other teams.
“You kind of have that sense of urgency from the day you come into the league knowing that things are not going to be easy for you,” Slater says. For Slater, every down counts.
Do you believe in your business with a sense of urgency, with a fire in your belly? Are you emotionally engaged and passionate about your work? Do you personally see to it that the next call is made, or widget crafted well?
Lower your expectations that the path to business success is easy. Take personal responsibility for controlling the activities you can.
Be Strategic
Victor Cruz, a wide receiver, wasn’t released by an NFL team, but he wasn’t drafted by one either. He led the Giants with 82 receptions for 1,536 yards and nine touchdowns in the regular season.
“I wasn’t really shocked” about not being drafted, says Cruz, who’s 6-0, 204 pounds. “I understood the process and understood that I wasn’t a guy that had blazing statistics or was 6-6, 230 pounds or anything like that. I understood that I probably wasn’t going to get drafted and would just have to make the best of my opportunity … and just do the best I could to break through on the team.”
When you are strategic like Cruz, you strive for excellence as you Work Positive which means you do the best you can to break through and win in the game of business. To get that contract. To conceive a positive relationship with your employees or employer. To do what it takes to the best of your ability to succeed. You are strategic.
So the next time you experience rejection or failure, just remember that half of the players on the field for the Super Bowl went through what you’re going through. Yet they still succeeded in the game. You can, too.
About the Author:
Best-selling author, speaker, and coach Dr. Joey Faucette shares how all of us working together create a more positive world this week. Adapted from his #1 Amazon best-seller, Work Positive in a Negative World.
