The true competitors, though, are the ones who always play to win.
Tom Brady
Football is unconditional love.
Too often in life, something happens and we blame other people for us not being happy or satisfied or fulfilled. So the point is, we all have choices, and we make the choice to accept people or situations or to not accept situations.
To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it's digging deep, it's doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms.
Every quarterback can throw a ball; every running back can run; every receiver is fast; but that mental toughness that you talk about translates into competitiveness.
I always try to do as much as I can do. I'm never a person that does not enough, because I'd regret not doing enough and think I probably could have done more. I probably go too far and have to reel myself back in, which works in some things, and other things it doesn't work.
A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don't ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren't blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.
I'm a pretty good winner. I'm a terrible loser. And I rub it in pretty good when I win.
I could talk food all day. I love good food.
Maybe some people can wake up and play PlayStation all day, but that's never been me.
You have to believe in your process. You have to believe in the things that you are doing to help the team win. I think you have to take the good with the bad.
Who's my hero? That's a great question... Well, I think my dad is my hero, because he's someone I look up to every day.
My job is to play quarterback, and I'm going to do that the best way I know how, because I owe that to my teammates regardless of who is out there on the field with me.
Sometimes, getting up in the morning and brushing your teeth is the hardest part of the day - it all just hurts.
I was the kid that was the 199th pick that never had the body for it. People didn't think I'd play one year in the NFL, and now I'm going on my 17th year.
I think the great part about what I do is that there's a scoreboard. At the end of every week, you know how you did. You know how well you prepared. You know whether you executed your game plan. There's a tangible score.
Nothing surprises me anymore in the NFL.
I'm not a person who defends myself very often. I kind of let my actions speak for me.
There's nothing more comfortable or leisurely than having a pair of Ugg slippers on in the house.
I have a memory, and I can just eliminate mistakes when they come up because I've already made them.
I don't think any country is perfect. It's our responsibility to do the best we can do to change the things we don't like. I think that's part of social responsibility, and everybody is going to do that in their own way.
Mentally, the only players who survive in the pros are the ones able to manage all their responsibilities. Everybody struggles in different ways.
I have hobbies. I like being active. I like to surf a lot, play a little bit of golf.
As for hobbies, I don't really read or watch TV.
I don't want to wake up and be bored. That's probably my greatest fear is to have nothing to do. What better job is there than to play quarterback for an NFL team, and certainly one that I've been on for a long time and had success with? I don't plan on giving it up any time soon.
When I'm out on the football field, I have so much confidence in what I'm doing.
If I feel anxious every time someone is staring at me, well, I can't control what they stare at, but my reaction is, I'm just not going to go outside the house. I'm going to stay in and chill. And when I do go out, I understand what comes along with that.
I firmly believe that sleep and recovery are critical aspects of an effective and holistic training program.
My sisters like cooking at my place. It has a bit more room, and the food tastes a little bit better. A big pot of spaghetti and sauce, some warm French bread - works all the time. I think I've been eating pasta for 26 years.
As you get older, you have more responsibilities; you have more commitments, more events, kids, you're married now. You still have all the things that you've had, plus you just keep adding.
All I do is work out. Oh my God! Half my life is spent in a gym somewhere, sweating.
I try to encourage all my teammates, and I sure hope that some day all athletes - my kids, high school kids - get the same level of care I get. Because you can play for a long period of time without having knee replacements, without having all the major head trauma that people are dealing with.
So many guys are so conservative with their hair, and I always joke with all my buddies when they mess with me, and I'll say, 'That's right, keep the same haircut for ten years.' How fun is that?
I don't want to say anything negative about anybody or anything or anybody's political beliefs. I've never done that. I've never tried to get involved in those things.
I think the running game is very important to every offense. Being balanced is extremely important. There's times where you have to throw the ball. You could be down late in the game, you need to come back; you have to be able to pass it when they know you're passing it.
To me, if you're trying to impress a girl, get a date, they're gonna like that more because you're a confident guy. That's what it comes down to.
You need to think outside the box. You need to think differently if you want to sustain what, for me, is my peak performance: the very best that I can achieve as an athlete every day.
Man, wear your seat belts. That's all I can tell everybody. You never know.
If someone lies, well, you had a choice to trust that person or not. I think the way my father raised me, well, he trusted everybody. And that worked for him.
There's not much time to unwind, but you know what, it's because I love what I do. I look forward to the season. I look forward to playing games. It doesn't ever feel like work.
I just love working hard. I love being part of a team; I love working toward a common goal.
When the NBA adopted their uniform that they had to wear, I thought that was very interesting. And you see the way NBA players dress: It's very cool.
You're not going to see my sense of humor on the football field. That's not a place for me to joke around.
In Boston, they love their sports celebrities. And it's great.
Probably my first couple years in the league, I started paying more attention to what I was wearing. Once I got a few bucks in my pocket and I could afford some nice things, and you get to go, 'OK, let's try some of these things.' And once you try something you like, you probably don't change it much.
I don't even know what the issues are. I haven't paid attention to politics in a long time. It's actually not something that I really even enjoy. It's way off my radar.
I'm not a very creative person, you know? I'm not really an art person. I'm not a great reader or writer or artist or musician.
Every action has a consequence. It may be good for strengthening. And I have no doubt that lifting a lot of weights can get you stronger. I just don't know if lifting stronger weights can keep you healthy, or it can keep you doing your job better, especially for a pro athlete.
Sleep is all about recovering. So if you're not sleeping, you're not recovering. And if you're going to break your body down a lot, you better find ways to build it back up. And the only way to do that is get a lot of sleep. So for me, I go to bed at like 8:30, 9:00. As soon as I put my kids to bed. Because I'm up at 5:30 the next day.
I think I've really stepped outside the box in the way I try to train, eat, hydrate, the cognitive brain games I play on a daily or weekly basis to try to build up some durability within my body, within my brain, to be able to go out there and play at a high level at age 38.
