If anyone could’ve have thrown in the towel this year it would be New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
Gone are Wes Welker (signed with the Broncos), Brandon Lloyd (released in March, still unsigned) and Danny Woodhead (now with the Chargers). Tight ends Rob Gronkowski andAaron Hernandez could be sidelined for completely different reasons; the former is recovering from his latest surgery — this time on his back — and the latter was arrested Wednesday, charged with murder and released by the team.
Instead, he turned his obstacles into triumph, as the Patriots clinched the AFC East division title for the fifth straight year and is trying to gain the #1 seed in the final week of the season.
You may wonder despite the obstacles Tom Brady faced at the beginning of the year, how was he still able to be great. Perhaps 2013, wasn’t the best year for your marriage or relationship and you are hoping that it returns to greatness. You might want to take a page from Tom Brady’s leadership style to help your relationship get back on track.
- Work hard. We’ve heard that marriage/relationships are hard work and yet we still might not do what the work that is necessary in our relationships. Tom Brady sets the tone by working hard every day and pays attention to the littlest details.
- Takes control, but doesn’t take over. One issue that may challenge our relationship is if we feel that our partner isn’t working hard enough around certain things i.e. the household, or raising the children, we may just take control of the situation and do it ourselves. What makes Tom Brady great as a leader is that he knows when to step in, when to pull back and when to motivate the entire team. He also knows when to let others do their job and hold them accountable for it.
- Takes ownership for his mistakes. Tom Brady knew this year would be different. As we stated earlier, Brady had lost his top five receivers. With new receivers like Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins, he understood their would be some growing pains and frustration. Did he throw them under the bus, when they didn’t meet his expectations, no! He took ownership for his own failures. Earlier in the season he stated,
“I’m not making all the right plays, either,” Brady told WEEI radio. “It’s not like the rookie receivers are messing up all the time — no, not at all. Look, I’ve been really able to count on those guys. They’ve done an incredible job. I think we’ve got to improve in all aspects of our offense, and that will hopefully remove some of the burden that is fallen on the receivers right now. We have a lot of veteran players that aren’t playing right now, too, that if they were playing, the burden would be spread around to different guys who have actually been able to, would shoulder a lot of that responsibility that’s now fallen on the younger players.
“And the younger players are doing a great job. They’re working really hard. Their attitude is great. It’s been fun to work with them. Hopefully it all pays off in November and December when if we can ever get to a point
where we have a lot of our guys back and healthy and playing really well.”
- Communication. Communication isn’t just about talking to each other, it’s much more. It’s knowing and understanding your partners non-verbal cues and trying to get on the samepage. This year when working with the new receivers, Tom Brady took on a new role as teacher to constantly instill what the expectations were and how patience and constant practice would pay dividends toward the end of the season when it counted most.
- Make time for your priorities. Finally on order for your marriage/relationship to get back on track, it must become a priority. When Tom Brady is on the field, he is working and it’s all business. When he is off the field, it’s all about family.
If your relationship was a little rocky this past year, what quality from Tom Brady can you use to get back on track for 2014.
Coach Keith
iLoveStrong 