Titan Motivational Moment
Published on January 8, 2008
Who is Lawrence Tynes? If you are a football fan, you know it was Lawrence’s foot that kicked the Giants into the Super Bowl. Okay, it was a team effort. But at the end of the day, in overtime on a frozen field in Green Bay, the destiny of the entire Giants team rested on Tyne’s foot. Lawrence Tynes is not the first field goal kicker to put his team into a championship game. So why are we making such a big deal out of this one kick? Because of the two field goals he missed earlier in the game.
Lawrence had two chances in the fourth quarter to win the game but failed on each attempt. After the second miss, tv coverage caught Coach Coughlin giving Tynes a look that could have frozen the self confidence of anyone standing in the way. When it came to a 4th down decision and a 47 yard field attempt, Coach Coughlin looked to the side line to see if Tynes was up to the task. Problem was he couldn’t find him. Tynes was already on the field without being asked and warming up. Coach Coughlin figured that was as a good a sign as any and sent the rest of the field goal unit onto the field.
What’s the bottom line to this story? Lawrenece Tynes failed twice before he succeeded. After the second attempt, he put it out of his mind and used the negative energy to motivate himself to do it right the next time. By making the field goal, he proved that nobody cares how you did prior to the moment at hand. All they care about is what you do today and in the future. Tynes is remembered today for the great kick he made at the end of the game. Not the two misses he had earlier. Of course, if he missed a third time, the story would be different.
The point is as long as you have today and tomorrow, you can always rewrite the books and build success. Successful people fail more often than they succeed. It is the successes we remember most. If you don’t believe me, can you remember the teams in your favorite sport that came in second? We tend to only remember the champions. Learn from your mistakes and make today and tomorrow count.
Posted in Motivation