Surround yourself with really good people. I think that's an important thing. Because the people you surround yourself are a reflection of you.
Aaron Rodgers
Authenticity is everything! You have to wake up every day and look in the mirror, and you want to be proud of the person who's looking back at you. And you can only do that if you're being honest with yourself and being a person of high character. You have an opportunity every single day to write that story of your life.
Five letters here just for everybody out there in Packer-land: R-E-L-A-X, Relax. We're going to be OK.
The NCAA makes so much money off of their kids, and they put ridiculous - absolutely ridiculous - restrictions on everything that they can do.
For me, it's always been about preparation, and the more prepared I can be each week, the less pressure I feel and the more confident I am. As your confidence grows, it's only natural that the pressure you feel diminishes.
It takes a career, a lifetime, to build up a reputation, and only one misstep for it all to crumble away.
I'm just going to say I'm not gay. I really, really like women. That's all I can really say about that.
I just don't think it's appropriate talking about family stuff publicly.
I'm fulfilling my dreams that I had as a kid every single day.
I went to University of Illinois team camp. And that was a big deal for me. I got MVP of the camp, but they offered another kid from the camp, which was fine. I laughed with the couple coaches I know who were there at the time, who were part of recruiting the other guy.
Playing the quarterback position, there are so many things you need to master that improvement ends up taking place on graduated levels.
To me, the flag represents the greatest ideals of the United States of America, not the worst, but different people look at different things and have different feelings about it. That's what freedom of expression is all about.
I've dealt with a lot of injuries over the years, and you just learn about pain management and how to keep yourself in the best shape to play on Sunday, and then playing with pain.
The beautiful thing about the NFL season is to see a team come together after they get to know each other in the spring and summer. You then go through adversity together and see how you respond. The teams that can respond in a positive way are the teams that are going to be there in the end.
I think there needs to be modified penalties in training camp because there's severely modified compensation in training camp for all of us.
You play it the way you always play it. You look for matchups, and you go through your progression, and you throw it to the guy who's most open.
In general, when you have success on the field, you're more popular, and you have that fame that comes with it. You realize you're in the public eye more, and you've got to be a little bit more careful about some of the things you're doing out in public and make sure you're smart about the things you say.
You talk all the time about being connected, being a unit, believing in each other. But if you have unnamed sources, people out there cutting you down, and then you find out it's the person calling the plays - that would be really hard to deal with, to look at him the same way.
The beauty of our country is that when it was founded that they took some time to lay out civil liberties in the first 10 Amendments - the Bill of Rights. I'm a firm believer in those civil liberties and the ability to have your own opinion.
The thing I love about Wisconsin is the people. We have such incredible people here. It's fun to recognize the incredible athletes and coaches and sponsors and people we have here tonight. But we also have incredible fans.
I think some people forget sometimes I do have to go to the grocery store; I do enjoy going out to dinner. I have to get my oil changed from time to time. I do all the normal things. I cut my grass. People kind of forget that normal part, that we do a lot of the stuff that everybody else does, but we all have our talents, and mine is in football.
I still feel like I've got a lot of great football in front of me and the way that I've taken care of myself better the last few years. I think is going to put me in position to be able to play really well late in my 30s and even in my early 40s, possibly, if they'd like to keep me around that long and I can still play a little bit.
I'm at a point where there isn't any wasted movement in the throwing motion. Everything is consistent and smooth. When I first got into the league, I held the ball really high. That was the standard in college, and it messed up my timing a little bit - the draw, bringing it back, then the release.
I wanted to really ingrain myself in the culture and the people. And I apologize about having an allergy to dairy products that gives me some irritable bowels, but other than that, I mean, I've embraced just about everything else Wisconsin - especially when it comes to sports, but also the people and the interactions with our fans.
When you're competitive, the last thing you want to do is come out of a game, regardless of what kind of injury it is - whether it's an ankle, a knee, a rib, or a head injury.
How you deal with adversity says a lot about the kind of players you've got and the kind of team we've got.
I feel like I've set the bar fairly high, and I want to keep living up to that bar.
There should be a minimum on the air pressure but not a maximum. Every game, they're taking air out of the footballs I'm throwing, and I think that's a disadvantage for the way that I like them prepped.
I think as you get older, you realize there's always going to be critics. Critics are going to win every time because they can change their critique based on the stats and their own personal feelings.
Everybody eats a little differently, but the more where you are aware of what you put in your body and how it affects your performance, the better opportunities you have. And that's what I'm trying to do.
I want to be the best. I want to be counted on by my teammates. I want to be counted on by this organization and the fans. I want to be someone they know is going to bring it every single week. I prepare to be the best.
I don't think God cares a whole lot about the outcome. He cares about the people involved, but I don't think he's a big football fan.
I've spent years trying to time up my drops with my throws. You learn to listen to your feet and trust your positions.
That's what really motivates me: to make my coaches proud, my teammates proud, and the fans proud.
I've gotten to know a lot of great people here in all the different sports. It's fun. It's fun to get involved where you live. And this is where I live. I'm a registered voter here. I have my Wisconsin driver's license.
Touch is more important than arm strength. You want to really allow the receiver to run underneath the throw. It'll give you a little margin for error if you undershoot it a bit.
I look for my opportunities, not trying to go outside of my genuine realm, because leadership has to be genuine and authentic.
I'm fulfilling my dreams that I had as a kid every single day. That's why I'm trying to enjoy it so much.
I think being recognized more is something you have to get used to, whether it's here or in California or when I'm traveling. It's more a part of my life. People recognize me from my play or a commercial I've done. It's just a normal part of life now.
I've gotten to learn what's important in life and what's not important, and what to spend energy on and what not to. I don't have a family like some of my teammates, but I have a lot of things pulling at me that I have to put my energy into.
I think you need to be intentional at times about your leadership - where you're eating lunch, who you're interacting with, making guys feel like you're interested in what they're doing. If it's authentic, then it's going to be an easy conversation and easy hangout time.
There's always going to be silly stuff out there in the media that you can't worry too much about, and I don't. We just keep on trucking, and I like the way my... I think there should be 'professional is professional, and personal is personal,' and that's just how I'm going to keep it.
The majority of the time, they take air out of the football. I think that, for me, is a disadvantage.
When I'm out there, you just have to react. That's why you work on those throws. When you're in the moment, you can't think to yourself, 'How do I get this to go 47 yards and be 2 yards inside the sideline?'
I think, because of the lack of guaranteed contracts in the league, there's hesitancy to speaking your minds at times. But I feel like there could be a movement beginning where guys are feeling a little more comfortable talking about things that are important to them.
I think that, as athletes, sometimes we have the opportunities to make an impact. When it's authentic, I think there's room to share your opinion in an appropriate way.
I know a lot is going to be on our shoulders, especially the way we're starting games out. We have to start faster; I have to be sharper from the start, and I will be. And I'm confident that if we can get this thing started out a little better each week that we can get on that roll and be tough to stop.
I think Jesus was about bringing people together and connecting people in love, hanging out with the people who other people didn't want to hang out with. Spending time with the worst of the worst because He knew those are the people who needed Him most.
I think as you get older, you realize there's always going to be critics. Critics are going to win every time because they can change their critique based on the stats and their own personal feelings. It's less about proving people wrong, the critics wrong, and it's more about challenging myself to keep this level up.
As you get older, and this is a young man's game, and people say, 'Well, there's no way I can keep up running the way I'm running; there's no way my arm is going to stay as strong as it is.' It's the challenge of trying to stay in my tip-top shape year in and year out so I can keep playing the way I want to play.
