Tom Brady Exemplifies Commitment and Initiative

When talking to my own children and classrooms about character, I find that real life stories of people they admire can truly inspire. With the Patriot's having become a football dynasty and another Super Bowl appearance coming up this weekend, quarterback Tom Brady has been much in the news. Kids admire him and are naturally interested in how he became so successful in his field. So I read a biography on him and pulled from a few other resources to show how qualities such as commitment, initiative, endurance and proactive behavior contributed to his success. Hope it's useful to you!

Tom Brady: On Commitment and Initiative Or, Playing Fourth String, Getting Third-Rate Treatment
But Going the Second Mile with First-Rate Effort 

(Teacher Hint: Go to www.youtube.com and type in "Tom Brady" to find some cool clips of Brady in action. I really liked one with music in the background entitled "Tom Brady: My Hero". Play a bit before you speak to remind your students how awesome a player he is. Or, you might want to start with the first of a video, and show the rest after the story.)

Brady Today

Tom Brady makes it look so easy. Moments before lightning fast defensive tackles and 300 pound linemen close in to take his head off, Brady steps back to avoid one collision, to the side to avoid another, patiently waiting for his receivers to complete their patterns. Now. He throws. Completes. Touchdown, New England.

It happens so often that he's widely regarded as one of the best quarterbacks ever. He's led his team to multiple Super Bowls, received multiple Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards, been invited to Pro Bowls, and holds the NFL record for the most regular season touchdown passes. No wonder he's been named "Sportsman of the Year" by both Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News. (1)

It may look easy and natural for him today, but those skills didn't come naturally. It took supreme commitment to growing and learning, often under difficult circumstances.

The High School Brady

Tommy entered high school built like a beanpole - a slow-footed beanpole. Not very impressive in a game that emphasizes size and speed. But he was super-competitive and wanted to excel. 

So he did more than attend regular practices. He went the extra mile by attending quarterback camps in Arizona and the University of Southern California. He even spent personal time with a throwing guru who ran a school for quarterbacks. This guy had broken down the art of passing into the most minute detail to discover what works and what doesn't . Tommy took tons of notes, to which he still refers today. (2)

And the "extra mile" stuff continued. After school during the off season, many kids throw their backpacks onto the bedroom floor to watch TV, play games and goof off until bedtime. But Tommy completed his homework and met up with his friends at the Pacific Athletic Club to work out for three or four hours. 

When his coach, Tom McKenzie, lamented to Tommy's dad that he had "a Division 1 arm, but a Division 5 lower body," Tommy took it as a challenge. Every morning before school, he'd practice a tedious footwork drill called "The Five Dots," which most players loathed. According to Brady, "I've never been real fleet of foot. I enjoyed the struggle of it. I gained a lot out of it, in terms of mental toughness."

According to his coach, "Tom Brady is the only student athlete I ever saw who took advantage of every opportunity that was provided to him." (3)

His high school team wasn't that great, but he made the best of it, winning about as many games as he lost. 

The College Brady

By high school graduation, he was still a beanpole. But they put together a video-tape of Tom's games and sent it to fifty-five universities. Their diligence paid off and the University of Michigan, a football powerhouse, recruited him to play for their Wolverines. But then things got strange. Before he even made it to the campus, the two coaches who recruited him and believed in him left the school. 

His first year, he kept the bench warm with the third string. The second year, he played a bit in only two games. His very first pass was intercepted and run back for a touchdown. Not exactly a stellar debut. He'd throw five total passes that year. (4) 

But he kept practicing, kept learning, and developed a great network of relationships with his people skills. Surely next year would be his year.


But before his third year, appendicitis robbed him of 30 pounds that he didn't need to lose. Now he was an even skinnier bean pole. Thoughts of quitting and giving up were getting the best of him. Instead of turning inward, he began to talk to the athletic department counselor, Greg Harden. From meetings with Harden, he developed a game plan for problem solving and becoming a better person. 

It helped. 

At Spring camp, he found himself third in line behind the starting quarterback and another quarterback, Brian Griese, who's father had been a legendary quarterback. The latter won the starting position and Brady would get to play in only four games, throwing only twelve passes. Griese would graduate, leaving the slot for Brady to fill, but did Brady want it anymore? He'd been practicing his heart out for three long years to throw a total of 17 passes. In his mind, he wasn't given equal treatment. He considered changing schools. But outside of football, he loved his friends, his classes, and his volunteer work at a children's hospital. He decided to stick with it. (5)

His fourth year, he would clearly be the starting quarterback, but then things got strange again. Michigan recruited a phenomenal high school quarterback from a nearby town who had already been featured in Sports Illustrated. Being a local hero, there was pressure to move him quickly up to starting quarterback. So what did Brady think when his head coach referred to Henson, the new be, as "without question the most talented quarterback I've ever been around"? (6)
Brady started as quarterback the rest of the season, winning 10 games and losing three. But there would be a fifth year, allowable since he didn't play as a Freshman. Surely he'd established himself by now. But that would be too easy. Influential alumni were pressuring the coaches to play Henson, the new quarterback. 

So here's how it played out. The coach announced that Brady would play the first quarter, Henson the second quarter, and whoever played the best would play the second half. It was a slam on Brady, the deserving fifth year senior. It would have been easy for Brady to take the low road, rallying his friends around his cause and dividing the team. Instead, he kept working and pursuing team unity. After the seventh game Brady established himself as the starter for the rest of the year. 

After his final game as a Wolverine, Brady's quarterback coach told him that the circumstances he'd played under would have broken most athletes. But Brady endured. (7)

After college, he could have smugly assumed that he knew everything he needed to know about football. Instead, he attended a performance clinic to try to pick up foot speed. I mean, come on, after four years of coaching in high school and five years of coaching in college, don't you think he knew enough about how to run? Not Brady. There were still weaknesses to shore up and there was always more to learn, always an extra mile that he could go. (8)

The Pro Brady

His next stop was the NFL Scouting Combine, a place where coaches and scouts have the opportunity to watch their potential drafts in action. The gathering includes interviews, psychological testing, strength and agility tests, and the 40-yard dash. 

Although the assessors noted some great traits in Brady, most saw him as a gamble. The most prominent of the evaluators concluded that he "didn't have the total package of skills." (9) One offensive coordinator assessed Brady as rather average, with his inability to establish himself at Michigan counting against him. To some, he was still a "skinny quarterback who didn't run well." (10)

Still, he hoped to be picked early in the draft. Sitting at home listening to the draft with his family, they saw one round after another passing him by. After the fifth round, the Brady bunch was depressed. According to his sister Nancy, "What with what happened at Michigan, and now having this infuriating and disappointing couple of days, he just wanted to take a walk...." While he was out walking, head coach Bill Belichick called from the Patriots, picking him on the sixth round, the 199th draft pick. 

Dick Rehbein (the quarterback coach) and Belicheck saw something in Brady that others apparently didn't. During those college years, Brady was put in a bad position, but made the most out of it. They were impressed with "what he did with the opportunities he had." (11)
But at New England, he'd have to start out once again at the bottom. Now for anyone who's played second string, you know the demoralizing feeling of working hard all week to sit on the bench during the games, hoping that, just maybe, your team will get so far ahead that they call in the second string. But he wasn't on second string. He wasn't even on third string. Brady started fourth-string for the Patriots. (12)

Although he'd filled out a little by this time, the Patriot's owner still referred to Brady as, you guessed it, a "beanpole," after their first meeting. (13) But what he lacked in physical intimidation, he made up for with his work ethic, team spirit, and a rare ability to care for and energize those around him. Package all that together and it's called leadership. As one biographer put it, "Brady had that unique ability to make the person he is talking to feel as though the rest of the world has fallen away and there is only this one conversation happening anywhere." (14)

He'd spend extra time watching film of their opponents, although he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of playing in the game. The defensive coordinator noticed that Brady would work out harder than anyone else in the weight room. He threw himself into off-season workouts, whether or not he was required to attend. That helped add about 20 pounds of needed muscle. After a normal practice day, he'd lead a group of others at the bottom of the totem pole to run through the plays until they had them down. And they got better, and better. The coaches took notice and liked what they saw. 

So Brady found himself the backup quarterback during his second year. And when the starting quarterback got injured, Brady took over. Because of his intense preparation during good times and bad, he was there to answer the door when opportunity knocked. And the rest, as they say, is history. 

Brady once noted that the most difficult wins are the most memorable. I think you could say that about his life. As Brady said, "Who wants everything to come easy?" (15)

Action Points

So do you consider yourself the "beanpole" of your team or organization - the one who doesn't look the part or make heads turn? Do you go to all the regular practices, but still find yourself benched? Do you do the assigned homework but don't get the grades you want?
If that sounds like you (and it often sounds like me!) remember how Brady defeated discouragement and went the extra mile by preparing a little harder, getting outside counsel and continuing to learn. If initiative and hard work make a top-rated professional football player out of a slow beanpole, maybe it can pay off for the rest of us.


Tom Brady on Standing Alone

Tom Brady, the super-successful quarterback for the New England Patriots, doesn't try to be "just another jock." Elwood Reid, one of his college professors, noted that Brady was his own person. The other jocks in his class were too cool to do homework or act interested in his class. Not Brady. He was polite, sincere, did his reading, brought his books to class. Reid expected the other athletes to treat him with contempt, making fun of the skinny athlete.

But to Reid's surprise, "the most disruptive guys in the class did more than leave the quarterback alone. They seemed to look up to him. In fact, they seemed to look up to him more because he wasn't following their lead." I suppose you can't very well lead the crowd if you're following it. (16) 

Brady on Commitment to the Team
 
"All I ever wanted was the camaraderie, to share some memories with so many other guys." (17) 

Brady On Not Talking Down to People

According to head coach Belichick, Brady "doesn't put himself above anybody, above the equipment manager, above the guy on the practice squad, or above a defensive player. He has respect for them doing their jobs." (18)

Discussion Questions

1. What are some obstacles that Brady had to overcome?
2. How did he show initiative and commitment to overcome them?
3. In what areas of life do you and those you know need extra initiative and commitment?
4. What can you do today and this week to overcome life's challenges?


Find hundreds of character stories, lessons and activities at Legacy Educational Resources at www.character-education.info .

End Notes

1. Wikipedia on Tom Brady.
2. Moving the Chains: Tom Brady and the Pursuit of Everything, by Charles P. Pierce (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006), pp. 38-40.
3. Ibid., p. 41.
4. Ibid., pp. 59,60.
5. Ibid., pp. 61-65.
6. Ibid., pp. 67,68.
7. Ibid., p. 78.
8. Ibid., p. 89.
9. Ibid., pp. 89,90.
10. Ibid., pp. 90,91.
11. Ibid., p. 92.
12. Ibid., p. 94.
13. Ibid., p. 95.
14. Ibid., p. 8.
15. Ibid., p. 18; also The Education of a Coach, by David Halberstam, (New York: Hyperion, 2005), pp. 214-221.
16. Ibid., Pierce, pp. 4,5.
17. Ibid., p. 27.
18. Ibid., p. 159.

(Copyright February, 2008, Steve Miller and Legacy Educational Resources, http://www.character-education.info , all rights reserved. For permission to reprint on another site or blog, e-mail steve miller at smillero@mindspring.com )

Critic Trashes Lord of the Rings Author JRR Tolkien

Responding to Criticism

Here's a good story you could use to help your students to overcome undeserved criticism.

JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings was crowned Britain’s best loved book. With over 150 million copies sold, it’s the third best-selling novel ever written. The movie trilogy, based on the book, was the 6th greatest money-making film ever. These achievements give strong, if not irrefutable evidence that Tolkien is one of the greatest story-tellers to ever wield a pen. Yet, even Tolkien gets criticized by so-called experts in literature. 

Although he was nominated for a Nobel Prize in literature (by no less than literary scholar C.S. Lewis), the most influential literary critic for determining the prize dismissed Tolkien’s work as poor writing. In his words, Tolkien "has not in any way measured up to storytelling of the highest quality." In other words, he accused Tolkien of being a mediocre writer. 

My point? Critics, even brilliant critics, are often dead wrong. So don’t let criticism stop you from chasing your dreams. Listen to criticism and learn from it, but don’t make it the final judge of your worth.

Fifty years after Tolkien lost his chance for a Nobel Prize, we’ve all heard of Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings. Yet, you’ve probably never heard of Tolkien’s critic, Anders Österling. Enough said. 

Discussion with Students

1) How many of you saw or read Lord of the Rings?

2) Why do you think it was so popular?

3) When you read movie reviews or book reviews, how often do you end up disagreeing with the reviewers? What does that tell you about critics? (Their opinions are often based on subjective rather than objective factors. Sometimes they’re right; often they’re wrong.)

4) Why do we often respond so strongly to criticism about our own work?

5) How can we learn from criticism without being devastated by it?  

By J. Steve Miller. Source: Alison Flood, JRR Tolkien's Nobel Prize Chances Dashed by 'Poor Prose', in guardian.co.uk, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012.

 


Find more stories and life skills lessons at Legacy Educational Resources at www.character-education.info .

New Inspirational Book on Forgiveness

 If you are looking for an inspiration book (or one to buy as a gift for a friend), my author friends, CJ and Shelley hitz have a new book that is launching today called Forgiveness Formula: Finding Lasting Freedom in Christ.

Check out the book launch page and a lot of free prizes and gifts they are giving out today! http://www.facebook.com/l/7AQF1vd5FAQHu8PK9EJNXiL822j80a38QMoRaWC9rrROpXw/www.theforgivenessformula.com/gifts

Find Legacy Educational Resources at www.character-education.info .

How Tolerating Difficult People Can Pay Off

 

Topics: Tolerance, Respect, Authorities

Teachers and parents could use this story with their students and children. I'm reading Isaacson's brand new biography on Steve Jobs and am writing illustrations based on the book.

A computer whiz named Woz worked with an obnoxious partner named Steve. They had certain things in common – like an interest in computers and a love for practical jokes. But in other ways they were worlds apart. Steve was into this hippie thing, going barefoot all the time and skipping way too many baths. As a result, he often stunk, but refused to believe he stunk because he was convinced that his weird diet kept him from needing deodorant.

Then there was the special way Steve made you feel when you disagreed with him. Sometimes he’d scream and cry and pitch fits rather than believe that, just once, maybe someone else might be right. If he didn’t like something you were working on, he’d often say it was stupid or useless without even listening to your side. Have you ever had to put up with people like that? Needless to say, Steve wasn’t the easiest person to work with and many people simply couldn’t tolerate him. 

But Woz is glad that he tolerated Steve’s irritating quirks and hung in there with him. Together, Steve Wozniak (known as Woz) and Steve Jobs started a little computer company called Apple, which eventually gave the world billions of dollars worth of useful products including computers, iPhones, iPods, iPads, and iTunes. 

As irritatingly different as they were, Woz and Jobs needed each other. Woz happily programmed and designed in solitude, not relishing dealing with publicity and sales. Jobs became the public face of the company, helping to dream up designs but also making sure the products got out there. Apple became one of the most successful companies in the world because two very different people tolerated each other enough to work together and change the world. (1)

Discussion

1. What made Steve Jobs get on people’s nerves?
2. What would have made it hard for you to get along with Steve Jobs?
3. How do you think Woz tolerated such irritating qualities?
4. Did Woz have to agree with Job’s beliefs and actions to tolerate him?
5. Does “tolerating” mean that you never confront people about their obnoxious behavior?
6. When do you confront and when do you let it slide?
7. What can this story teach us about the benefits of tolerance?

1) Facts from Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), pp. 34,43,81,83,84,88,90,91,93,95,101,103,112,121,etc.

Find Legacy Educational Resources at www.character-education.info .

Making Your Resume Stand Out

Is there a way to make your resume stand out without making it too long? What can separate it out from the stack of scores of resumes on someone's desk? Should you include references on your resume, or just say, "References available upon request?"

Many businesses have a standard format that they require, so that there's not much room for innovation. But if they have spaces to add these items, or allow you to run off the resume and add a few things, consider these tips from a couple of personal experiences.

• When my brother, who works at a major energy company, was soliciting resumes for an engineering job, he said that he wished that people had included their references so that it wouldn't be one more step for him to ask.

• When I helped one of my sons write a resume to try to get a job as a motorcycle mechanic in LA, I actually included about three quotes from people in the auto shop where he formerly worked.
  
  We thought, "what characteristics are people looking for in a mechanic? Let's see, they want someone who's reliable - will show up on time every day. Someone who's nice - easy to get along with and fun to work with. Someone who's willing to learn new things and take on new challenges." Then, we went to people at Acworth Automotive and asked if he exhibited these qualities. They gave us little blurbs, something like:

"Benji's a really nice guy, a pleasure to work with." - Annette - office manager

"Shows up every morning by 7:30 - on time. A damn hard worker." - Pete - owner

"He's a quick learner - challenged us to give him at least one new job every week." - John - transmission specialist

It was a short, little resume - it was the only mechanic job Benji had ever worked. Yet, they hired him as a motorcycle mechanic at one of the most respected motorcycle dealerships in Hollywood. And get this - he'd never owned a motorcycle or worked on a motorcycle. He'd only worked on cars! Yet, one of the managers said, "good resume!"

If it's not practical to get little quotes like this from a former job this time around, consider getting them in your new position as you continue to build your resume. Especially in times of tough competition in the job market, doing something to make your resume stand out makes a lot of sense.

Find Legacy Educational Resources at www.character-education.info .

Learning from Albert Einstein

In reading Walter Isaacson's brilliant biography of Einstein, I came up with many great life principles. Here's one on strengths, weaknesses and discouragement that I just wrote and put up on the character site for teachers to use.

Albert Einstein: Life Lessons for the Rest of Us

Teacher Tips: Many students concentrate on their weaknesses and conclude that they're losers. But each of us have strengths as well. This story gives hope to those obsess on their weaknesses.

Don't tell students up front who the story is about. Just refer to him as a guy named Al. This helps them to engage the story. You may want to tell them half-way through that it's someone famous and ask them to guess. If they can't guess, tell them that it's Albert Einstein, then they'll be more impressed with the rest of the story.

Oh the Things that Poor Al Couldn’t Do

There were so many things that Al was either slow at or couldn’t seem to do at all.

Poor Al. Even as a young child, people recognized him as mentally slow. You know how parents brag at how early their child started talking? It took him so long to learn to talk that his parents consulted a doctor. After he finally started talking, he had a strange quirk of saying the sentence to himself before he said it out loud. (Mimic this.) No wonder the family maid called him “the dopey one” and other family members called him “almost backwords.” Language came so hard to him that some feared he’d never learn to speak.

Once he learned to speak and got into school, he didn’t fit in – neither with his fellow students nor with his teachers. Poor Al. Simply put, he was rather odd. Fellow students viewed him as a freak because they were obsessed with sports and he wasn’t interested at all. In academics, his school emphasized rote memorization rather than creativity, and he wasn’t good at rote learning. He did well in subjects he liked, not so good in things he didn’t like. As a result, one schoolmaster called him dull. In fact, one exasperated teacher went so far as to tell him tell him that he’d never amount to anything, was wasting everyone's time, and should drop out of school immediately. (See Albert Einstein: A Life, by Denis Brian, 1996, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.; also Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson. Page numbers refer to Isaacson.)

He hated high school so much that he took the teacher’s advice and quit, trying to take an exam to go straight to college. But he failed the test in several subjects and had to take a formal year of college preparation.

He finally made it to a tiny technical college and found that he did better when he studied with other students. His grades were again uneven - good at some subjects, horrible at others.(Isaacson, p. 36) He flunked a Physics class with a “1”, the worst possible grade. But he hung in there, barely passing his senior exams, one of the worst grades in his graduating class. (34)

Any guesses as to who I’m talking about?

Ever have a hard time finding work? Poor Al. He thought he wanted to teach science, but some of his teachers wouldn’t recommend him to teaching positions. After rejection after rejection for jobs, a friend finally got him a job in a patent office, where they decided if people's inventions should be patented. It would take him 9 years after college graduation before he’d get his first teaching job. (54ff).

As if all these deficits weren’t enough, Al was incredibly absent-minded.

• Al was so absentminded that he was always losing stuff, even as a grown-up, like the keys to his room. If he went to visit others overnight, he’d forget his clothes, or even his entire suitcase. One family friend said, “That man will never amount to anything because he can’t remember anything.” (39)

• He was so absentminded that when he got married, he lost the key and had to wake up his landlady to get into his apartment.

• He was so absentminded that one day he went for a walk and couldn’t find his way home. Some days, when he walked home, his wife would watch for him to get close to the front door, only to forget where he was going and start back to work. She’d rescue him and walk him into the house.

• He was so absentminded that he chose absent-minded friends. When one of his friends was sent by train to do a task, he got off at the wrong station and had to call back to work, not only to be reminded where he was supposed to go, but what he was supposed to do when he got there.

• He was so absentminded that when he accompanied another friend on a train, they got to talking and missed their station. They had to hop another train back the opposite direction, but missed that station as well.

• He was so absentminded that, when writing letters, he’d often conclude them by signing the person’s name he was sending it to rather than his own name. (227)

Poor Al. He also wasn't very good with long-term relationships. He admitted that he failed in both of his marriages, and didn’t do too well raising his kids as well. One ended up in an insane asylum.

He never drove a car; his wife said it was too complicated for him.

From what we've said so far, would you say that Al was a success or failure in life?

But all we’ve talked about is what Al couldn’t do. Fortunately, he didn’t focus on his weaknesses, but his strengths. His strength was creative thinking – imagining thought experiments that involved theoretical physics. Rather than thinking in words, he thought in pictures. He’d think about things that nobody else did:

• like what things would look like if he were to travel on a bullet at the speed of light

• or whether space might curve, making the distance between two points not necessarily a straight line

• or whether time might be relative rather than absolute, so that if one twin went on a space trip near the speed of light, he’d come back a different age from the twin who’d been left behind.

With his incredible imagination, he helped to prove the existence of atoms and dreamed up science’s most famous equation: e = mc². With his brilliant thoughts, he revolutionized science.

Al’s full name was, of course, Albert, Albert Einstein, considered by many the greatest genius who ever lived. In 1999, Time magazine crowned him the person of the century, describing him as "the pre-eminent scientist in a century dominated by science."

So, Einstein was like most of us – good at some things and really, really bad at others. Fortunately, he worked hard at developing his strengths, didn’t let his weaknesses hold him back, didn’t allow the criticisms of others to make him give up, and refused to give up when he was on a thought project, no matter how many years he had to fail in order to find a solution. He was also very humble, likeable, kind, played violin and could talk to anyone.

What do I learn from Einstein? I shouldn't get discouraged by focusing on my weaknesses. Instead, I should develop my strengths without letting my weaknesses get in the way.

Discussion

1. What are some things that Einstein was bad at?

2. What was he good at?

3. Imagine you were Albert Einstein growing up. Would you have thought of yourself as smart or dumb? Headed for success or failure? Why?

4. Einstein became very successful in his field. What can we learn about success and failure from his story?

5. How can the principles we learned from Einstein help us with our own attitudes and life goals?

(Copyright July, 2011 by Steve Miller and Legacy Educational Resources. All rights reserved.)

Find more stories and resources at Legacy Educational Resources: www.character-education.info .

On Character, Goverment Spending and Personal Responsibility

Lawrence W. Reed, economist, historian, and president of the Foundation for Economic Education, wrote a thought-provoking article which was just posted in the Christian Science Monitor:

The deficit Americans should think about most: personal character
Our huge public debt ultimately reflects our lack of individual restraint. But we can do better.

Highly recommended reading. By connecting the personal character of the citizens with the nation's troubling debt, he hits a home run.

The article reflects my granddad's attitude toward government spending (he'd lived through the Great Depression). I can recall him saying, thirty years ago, when he could have let the government pay for some item, "The government can't afford to do that." Then, he'd pay for it himself.

Grand mom and granddad weren't wealthy. They lived in a small house in Hawkinsville, Georgia. At times, he struggled with work and alcoholism. He certainly could have justified getting some government assistance. But to him, expecting the government to pull him out of his personal problems was something he couldn't lower himself to do. For him, it was a moral issue. It was an issue of doing his part to keep America fiscally strong.

Now I'm not saying that all government assistance is wrong. I'm just saying that I seldom see people today with granddad's attitude. Who do you hear saying, "the government can't afford to pay for that," as they refuse a government handout? Even if we object to huge government spending, most of us are glad to take the handouts.

America needs more people like granddad. I hope it doesn't take a "Greater Depression" to instill his attitude in a new generation.