Actions Reflect Your Priorities

Summary

REFLECTION In 2005, I gave an interview to “60 Minutes” where I sounded a little bit like Scottie Scheffler. I’d won three Super Bowls in my first four years as a starter, and I was explaining to the interviewer how, when I looked at my trophies and Super Bowl rings, I found myself thinking, “there’s gotta be more than this…this can’t be all…” ​ I was 27 years old. I was young. My first son, Jack, wouldn’t be born for another year-and-a-half. Football was a very important part of my life. But similar to Scottie, I could feel myself resisting the expectation placed on elite athletes, by the media and by society in general, to use professional achievement as the primary meter for personal satisfaction. “What else is there for me?” I asked myself during that interview. “What’s the answer?” the interviewer wondered. “I wish I knew,” I said. I would figure it out, but it took time. The lessons came in stages. First, that there is more to life than playing football and winning championships. Then I learned exactly what those other things were. Then, I learned how they all fit together so that what I did on the field supported the things I did off the field, and vice versa. And finally, most importantly, I learned that it was the pursuit of excellence in each of these areas where I found the most joy, not in the achievements themselves. It was the process, not the outcome. I’m 25 years removed from the beginning of my pro football career, and a lot has changed since that interview. I have three kids now. I’ve played for two teams. I’ve started companies, invested in start-ups, taken ownership stakes in teams in multiple sports. I have teammates and employees now. I’m a broadcaster. I am a spokesperson, a business partner, a father, a friend and a brother and a son. I’m a decent golfer and a good leader. I have deep ties to both my local community and the global community. Like most people, I have a lot going on. I don’t just do one thing. I do many things, though not all a...