Ok, you are down 25 points in the third quarter. You need to score two touchdowns, two two point conversions, win a coin toss and engineer a touchdown drive to win the seminal event of your chosen profession. A profession from which you were suspended earlier in the year.

Ok. Got it. So… Hold my beer.

So said a man’s man in last night’s Super Bowl. And then he went out and completely ignored the probability chart. Tomas T. said it perfectly:

Ignore this

The problem with predictive analysis like this is they never capture all the variables. They don’t account for great players like Tom Brady can increase their level of play, the emotional swing of a team building momentum, those moments when people enter what Csikszentmihalyi called Flow. 

Brady and the Patriots had what I call the courage of conviction. They knew they could do it. Like a pool player who sees the perfect combination for a win, they were absolutely convinced they had the shot. And so he led them through the flow state where there was no crowd noise, no clock, no opponent. There were just 11 players in a high challenge, high skill environment. There was no try. There was only do, or not do.

I see it in a lot of start up founders I have had the pleasure to work with, where the difference between success and failure is as thin as a blade of grass. The ones that make it are usually the ones that combine hard work, good luck, the ability to lead and the complete confidence that the challenge is somehow within their skills. You see it in their eyes before it is in their grasp.

Hold my beer.

~~Wow, you made it all the way down here! ~~~

Like this story?… Inspired, even just a little?… here’s how you might pay it forward;
Please tell me about a great entrepreneur who may need help solving a big puzzle. or…
Please tell me about an A Player who would be a great addition to a founding team.