Life Is Like Football

Hey tribe!! In honor of football Sunday (even though the Texans aren’t playing) and the upcoming Super Bowl, today we are talking about football! Life is like football in so many ways. Let’s talk about it!

Here we are going to refer to goals as first downs, the big picture as touchdowns, and barriers, haters, and life circumstance as the defensive team. You are the offensive team. Football will be referred to as life.  

In life, you have goals that you are trying to reach, ultimately leading you to the big picture. Your big picture could be being debt-free, starting a family, or becoming a successful entrepreneur. These goals could be paying down your debt every month, dating with intention, or defining what you want to build a business around. You don’t always reach these goals at first attempt, but even when you don’t you still get a chance to dust yourself off and try again. 

Sometimes you don’t reach these goals because of the defensive team. The defensive team has many positions and you never know where you’ll be stopped. There are initial barriers that test you, they want to stop you early in your journey because they know your potential. We call that the defensive line. Once you get past the d-line, you have the linebackers and defensive backs, those barriers that stop you dead in your tracks just when you thought you were about to breakthrough. 

The defensive line isn’t perfect. They make mistakes too. This is to your advantage. For example, haters… they focus on other people so much that they can’t get their own shit right. Flag on the play! Off sides! Five yard penalty on the defense (gained by the offense). Imagine when that hater is a coworker. They were so busy worried about your job responsibilities that they forgot to do theirs. You caught them slipping, because you are on your shit, did the job and brought it to the meeting because you knew they wouldn’t. Flag on the defense! Personal foul! 15 yard penalty. Offense is closer to a raise/promotion due to having a high level of skill, IQ, and execution. 

Sometimes, the defense isn’t even the problem, though. Remember, this is a [ME vs ME] year. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy! You can be the reason you don’t reach that goal. You’re distracted by the noise in the stadium and fumble. You are worried about what your fans will think and miss the game winning field goal. You didn’t put the last play behind you and now you can’t make a good play moving forward. 

You became the hater, lost focus, and fumbled your bag (got fired). Flag on the offense! False start! 10 yard penalty. Now you’ve fumbled the bag, lost focus, and decide to lash out. Flag on the play! Personal foul! 15 yard penalty and possible ejection. You didn’t have a clear plan for how you wanted to advance in the workplace, so you stayed stagnant for 2 years plus. Flag on the offense! Illegal motion! 5 yard penalty. Now you’ve lost all of this momentum due to your own mistakes. 

Unfortunate things happen during football games too. There is rain and we can stand the rain, but then there is lightning. Now the game is delayed for two hours. Want to know what else happens? Life happens. In life, things happen abruptly. To name a few, death, injury, house fires. Unfortunately, these things slow us down. Now, just like the football game, our life is delayed too. Maybe you fall on hard times and can’t finish school right now. Delay of game, play will resume after all lightning subsides. Perhaps there has been a death in the family and you need to move back home for a little while. Delay of game, play will resume after all lightning subsides. You’ve gotten denied for a small business loan by more than 20 banks and you need to revisit your business plan. Delay of game, play will resume after all lightning subsides. 

At some point, the game must go on. When the lightning subsides you need to be ready to get back on the field and give it all you got. As us athletes say (former athlete in my case), put your game face on and leave it on the field. It’s often said you must have a short memory in sports. If you gave up a touchdown on the last play, get an interception on the next play. The only benefit that looking back at the past serves is that you can take lessons learned and apply them. The same goes for LIFE. Move past whatever has held you back, whatever made you insecure, whatever you’ve failed at and look towards the future. The future is the best version of yourself and your life. The future is where your success lies. The future is promising if you keep working towards the big picture. 

Life is like football. 

Everyday we are working towards the big picture! Not just one, but multiple. There will always be a defensive team. We aren’t perfect so there will be personal fouls on the offense. In life, things happen abruptly and there can be a delay of game. Regardless of what happens during the game, keep that big picture in mind! No matter how long it takes or how hard it is – KEEP GOING!