A while back, I wrote to you about the “Five P’s.”
I know you take notes for each email I send, so I shouldn’t have to remind you what these five P’s are… but I’m feeling generous, so I’ll give you a reminder:
Proper preparation prevents poor performance. (Read it here.)
And boy, do I have a riveting story for you today about how these five P’s are responsible for a Super Bowl victory in the all-time greatest Super Bowl from my very biased perspective.
We’re talking about Super Bowl XLIII — or Super Bowl 43 if you can’t read Roman numerals.
In said Super Bowl, my Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals on a near last-second touchdown.
Well, earlier in said game—right before half time started—James Harrison intercepted Kurt Warner’s pass in Arizona’s end zone then proceeded to return it all 100 yards as the clock expired to score a touchdown before the half ended. Harrison scored with a big, fat 0:00 on the clock, meaning if he was tackled anywhere else besides the end zone, we wouldn't have scored at all.
Remember how I said we scored on a near last-second touchdown pass? Well, the final score ended up being 27-23. Meaning, if Harrison didn't score that touchdown before half, we would’ve lost.
Now, I’m sure you’re wondering wtf a recount of Super Bowl 43 has to do with the five P’s I started this email with.
Let me explain…
James Harrison recently appeared on Ben Roethlisberger’s podcast. As such, they were reflecting on the roller coaster of emotions they felt during that game. And this led them into a conversation about both of their game-saving (or game-winning) plays.
Here’s where the five P’s come into play:
As they were reminiscing about the Super Bowl, they remembered something that happened at practice the weeks leading up to that Super Bowl.
On the first day of practice after knowing they were in the Super Bowl, the Steelers defensive coordinator told his defensive a startling statistic:
If the defense scores a touchdown at any point during the Super Bowl, that team had like an 86% chance to win the game. (I don't remember the exact stat, but it was close.)
And so, he added a new “wrinkle” at practice:
Anytime the defense got the ball from the offense, all 11 defensive players had to run it back to the end zone — no matter how far away said end zone was.
This pissed Ben and the offense off because silly little “time-adds” like this can turn a 2 hour practice into a 3+ hour practice easily.
But Harrison told Ben on the podcast that if he didn’t run back every turnover during practice the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, he never would’ve had the cardio to take it back all 100 yards in the real game.
And that, my friend, is the five P’s, the law of attraction, and manifesting your reality in action.
You see, Harrison caught the ball in Arizona’s end zone with 100 yards between him and the Steelers’s end zone. But every other defensive player on the field ran down and blocked for James Harrison. If one person didn’t run back, he could’ve been tackled before scoring, and the Steelers would’ve lost the game.
Do with this what you will.
But it’s an important lesson to embed into your psyche.
Anywho:
Another way to practice the five P’s is by booking a call to see if us partnering together makes sense.
The pigskin’s in your hands now.
John