Patrick Mahomes: 3 ways to become Super

NFL MVP.

Super Bowl MVP.

World Champion.

Those titles don’t come easy. But achieving greatness wouldn’t be much fun if it were. Just ask Patrick Mahomes.

He’ll tell you that the joy is in the journey. The fun is in the challenge. The experience of realizing you have physical and mental limits — and then surpassing them — makes reaching the summit even more special.

The star quarterback from the Kansas City Chiefs learned from an early age what it takes to become a special athlete. His father, Pat, a former major league pitcher, taught him well.

A recent story on the website Pro Football Talk offers three lessons for athletic success we can all carry in our gym bags. 

1) It Ain’t Easy — Pat Mahomes made a point of taking his young son into the clubhouse to get an up-close look at some of his heroes.

The takeaway: “I wanted him to see the work you had to put in to be a pro.”

2) Overcome Mistakes — In addition to seeing his father paint the corners and take down some pretty imposing batters, young Patrick also witnessed his Pops get knocked around the park on occasion. We’re human. We all make mistakes. We all commit turnovers, make bad pitches and throw interceptions.

The takeaway: Correct your mistakes before they become habits.

3) Next Play Mentality — So, how do we get past a critical mistake in a big game, at school or in the workplace? We’ll let the elder Mahomes start.

 “I’d tell Patrick, it’s always about the next play. It’s always about the next pitch.’ Forget what you’ve done. What are you gonna do next?”

And his son learned the lesson well. The Chiefs QB was having a pretty mediocre Super Bowl and his team was down by 10 points in the fourth quarter. Then he remembered his father’s words.

 “I don’t know if it’s from baseball, I don’t know if it’s from basketball or from my time in football. But I’ve always just been taught that you just have to play the next play. You have to go out there and compete no matter what’s happened earlier in the game. No matter what’s happened the whole season. All that matters is that next play.”

It’s the only one we can control.