Tom Vs Time & The Rest of Us

by | Jan 26, 2018 | Blog

You guys. This morning I sat with my cup of coffee and watched episode 1 of Tom Vs Time, the Facebook Watch documentary on Tom Brady (I’ve embedded it at the bottom of this post).

And look, you don’t have to like Tom Brady or the Patriots – you don’t even have to respect him – but there’s not a single one of us who can’t learn something from him or be inspired by his story.

If you’d rather listen to this blog than read it, please click the play button. Otherwise, keep reading. (I’ve embedded the episode at the bottom of this post, as well.)

Watching it was such a great start to my day. It got me thinking about how I can be more focused and harder working today. I love those kinds of challenges.

Sure, I’m not a professional athlete and I’m not looking for the level of intensity in my life that Tom Brady chooses for his life, but I do want to win. I do want a great life. And if you’re reading this, I think you do, too.

I don’t watch these kinds of things for entertainment. I see them as tools. How can I use this to make me better? How can I use this to make creating change easier & more fun?

Today I want to share my thoughts on this episode with you and take it from being about Tom Brady to being about all the rest of us.

In the interview, Tom opens by saying:

What are you willing to do and what are you willing to give up to be the best you can be?

The clock is ticking on all of us.

How many people will treat this like a rhetorical question?

It’s not rhetorical. Answer it. 

What are you willing to do? What are you willing to give up?

And are you just saying you’re willing? Or are you actually doing it?

The clock is ticking on all of us. For how much longer are you going to choose mediocre when you want excellent?

For how much longer are you going to brush off today and pledge to be better tomorrow?

You’re wasting time.

The clock is ticking.

You might start thinking about things you are willing to give up and then immediately talk yourself out of it because you don’t want to live without sugar or without television or whatever that thing is that you initially thought of.

Look, I get it. But it’s not binary. What are you willing to choose less of? What are you willing to move away from? What are you willing to give less time, energy or money to? Don’t stop pursuing this idea because you don’t like the idea of “giving up forever”.

What are you willing to give up just for today?

What are you willing to dial back on?

Television? Sugar? Alcohol? Gas station food? Vending machine food? Gossiping? Complaining?

What will you do about it today?

“Being mentally tough is about putting all that bullsh*t aside – all that noise, all the hype and just focusing on what you’ve gotta do.”

Amen. In episode 441 of the Primal Potential podcast I talk about no longer participating in the problems of your life, but exclusively participating in solutions.

This Brady quote brings me back to that resolution.

Put it all aside. What everyone else is doing. What went wrong yesterday. The time you’ve wasted. The fears about this weekend or next week or a year from now.

Put it aside and focus on what you’ve gotta do.

One of the daily questions within the Fat Loss Fast Track journal is “What are 3 opportunities I have to win today?”

Focus. Identify today’s opportunities. Act of them.

At one point in the short episode 1 of Tom vs Time he’s talking about the 2016 SuperBowl when they were losing to the Atlanta Falcons. Tom threw an interception and the Falcons scored. He knew that if they lost, that would have been one of the defining plays of the game.

In the episode he calmly says: “It didn’t define the game.”

Guys, we all have that choice.

What just happened doesn’t define your life. The last 30 years don’t define your life. The last 5 years of struggle don’t define your life…

…If you decide to take control and make a change.

You get to choose where your story goes from here. Your health. Your fitness. Your attitude. Focus. Motivation. Progress.

You can either say, “I’ve screwed it all up” and stop trying, or you can bring a new level of effort to this day and create a different outcome. A winning gameplan.

It won’t happen by wishing, hoping and wanting.

There’s no whining. There’s no complaining. Those don’t create change. In fact, they waste your time, energy & opportunity.

You win when you play harder. Try harder. Work harder.

Do you expect to win without trying? Just because you want it?

Are you being a victim of your circumstances saying you can’t win without sacrificing your life? Working hard doesn’t mean you can’t play hard, too.

That’s not true.

But you can’t be a victim.

I’ll leave you with the words of Gisele:

It’s gonna be awesome, I know it, okay?

Take the time to watch Tom Vs Time episode 1! Let me know what you’re going to do with the inspiration you get from it! It’s not enough to be inspired, we have to take action on what moves us.

Get to work!

The Primal Potential Podcast

Download a free chapter from Chasing Cupcakes.

Enter your first name and email below and I'll send over chapter nine from my best-selling book. 

Thanks! Check your inbox.