The College Process and Tom Brady?
Not so long ago many of us enjoyed watching the Super Bowl (Unless you are a Chiefs fan, it was a little painful to watch). A day or two after the big game, an article came across one of my social media feeds about Tom Brady. I think we can all agree, regardless of the team you root for, he is pretty talented. But after reading this article I couldn’t help but relate his life philosophy to the college process. Tom Brady’s life philosophies revolve around having a positive mindset - thoughts, emotions, and attitudes.
In the last few weeks, a majority of college bound high school seniors have received letters notifying them of their acceptances and probably a few denials. This year in particular has been emotionally exhausting on many students during the college process. Many selective colleges have had an increase in application numbers, creating an even more competitive applicant pool than in years past. During this time, I’ve received many text messages from students questioning their college application decisions. My consistent response has been to trust the process and to remind them that what we put out into the universe will come back to us. Meaning, if we focus on doubt and negative thoughts, we will receive negativity in return. #positivevibesonly has been my hashtag this spring! While Tom Brady may not use hashtags in his life philosophies, he chooses to stay positive. (Key word here is CHOOSES.) He chooses to practice a positive mindset. He visualizes the obstacles and then visualizes overcoming those obstacles. He makes mistakes but then chooses how to respond to them (with positive thinking!) He celebrates successes and then keeps moving forward. Every. Day. He wakes up focusing on gratitude.
Brady’s mindset also reminds me of a time when I participated in a mindfulness study at a school I was working in at the time. The instructor taught the students to repeat in their heads “What I attend to grows. What I attend to grows.” Over and over, students would repeat this mantra. I eventually started teaching this same mantra in my teen yoga classes. Usually starting with a vocab lesson on the word “attend”. Reviewing the meaning of it and sometimes changing it to What I focus on, grows. What I focus on, grows….. It’s an interesting concept but it is one I try to encourage my students to practice as well as myself. During COVID, I found it challenging to practice early on in the pandemic but now it is becoming a daily routine for myself and I encourage others to give it a try too!
This exercise is something I challenge all those reading this blog to do. Daily! Try it for a week, see if your mindset and attitude shift. I would love to hear your feedback! While we can’t all be as talented as Tom Brady, we can at least try to apply his life philosophies to our own lives and see what happens. What do we have to lose?
