Fail To Succeed: How To Overcome Adversity
Karl’s Path To The NFL
Karl had to overcome adversity during his entire journey to the NFL. In his junior year of high school, he did not make the varsity football team and played on the JV team. He was not sought after by colleges to play football for them, nor did he receive a student athlete scholarship. Instead, he ended up being a college walk on.
When the NFL draft came, it looked like Karl was not going to make it. He waited until the very end, where he was selected in the 12th round as the 310th pick. He was the 20th to last pick in the NFL draft and was not expected to make the final team.
How Karl Solidified His Position On The Denver Broncos
Karl did not let that get to his head and worked hard throughout the Broncos training camp. He believes it was this work and dedication that led to the moment that secured his position on the team. It was his first preseason game and Karl played in the 3rd quarter. With this time on the field, his tenacity, and his training, Karl was prepared to seize the moment. He recorded a few sacks, forced a fumble, and was named the defensive player of the game.
Karl’s Successes and Failures In The NFL
In his 12 years playing football for the Denver Broncos, he only experienced 2 losing seasons. He even played in three Super Bowls. It was a dream come true; however, he and the Broncos got beat and got beat badly in all three Super Bowls.
After the first Super Bowl loss, Karl thought the sun wouldn’t come up. But the sun did come up. It was heartbreaking, but life goes on. That was the lesson: clarity and consistency. Karl’s thought process was “This is who I am, this is the direction I am going. I am a pro football player and I have to get ready for next year”.
How To Overcome Adversity Star, Karl Mecklenburg
How Karl Approaches His Failures
Karl believes that you need to persevere and overcome your losses. Karl made it to the Super Bowl three times and lost all three times. Personally, Karl approaches it like many other things in life. Football is a team game just as business, family, and community is a team game. If you do everything you possibly can to come out on top, then at the end of the day, you can look yourself in the eye.
Karl’s best advice is to make the right decisions and choices along the way. If you prepare to your very best, are clear and consistent in the cornerstones of what is important to you and the team, and do everything you can to succeed, then your failures are not actually failures. You can look yourself in the eye no matter the outcome, whether you win or lose.
Karl’s Perspective On Success & Failure
In his career, there were games that Karl lost but played very well and felt good about the game. There were also games that Karl won but he played poorly and felt bad about the game. It is important how the team does; however, you don’t have control over the entire team. The one thing that you can control though, is your preparation and your performance.
Karl used this same approach when recovering injuries. When recovering from injuries, Karl would see other players lifting weights, practicing, and training while he was there trying to walk again. This is where he realized “what can I actually do? What can I control?”. Karl used this time to make connections in the locker room and the training room.
Typically, football teams have cliques, offensive players will hang out with other offensive players, defense with defense, older players with older players, etc. Karl crossed a lot of those lines. The advantage was that when he got back, he had those connections all the way through the team and was able to lead the team as a captain with everyone as opposed to just the group that he would naturally fall into.
The Keys To Success
Success Is Dependent Upon Your Attitude
If you get down when you fail and think that you are unable to do something, then you won’t be able to. Karl’s entire path to the NFL was a rough road with failures, but he did not let the tough times make decisions for him. If he let himself become what everyone else said he was, he would not have enjoyed a 12 year career in the NFL. You are who you say you are. It is what you do, it’s how you control your situations, and how you prepare and go into each day.
Success Is Tied To Preparation
Karl goes into each day doing a little bible study, thinking about the people he is going to run into that day and how he can positively affect them and how he can help them. With this routine, he is prepared for each day. When opportunity arises, he is able to jump right on it. Having a routine to properly prepare for each day will give you more chances where you can rise to the occasion to be successful, regardless of what other people are expecting out of you.
You Need To Have The Courage To Try New Things In Order To Succeed
Most people are afraid to fail. They say they want to accomplish something, but they are so afraid of failing that they don’t put themselves out there. You need to have the courage to try new things.
Karl never played the linebacker position in football until his third year in the NFL. He was a third down pass rusher and special teams player but his team said he would be able to help them as a linebacker. He trained the entire year as a linebacker, but never played the position in a game until the 10th game of the season. He played 6 games that season as a linebacker and ended up making the pro bowl as an all pro linebacker.
You need the courage to try new things. Everyone has more potential and possibility than we can use in a lifetime, but you need to have the courage to try new things. You won’t have the chance to be successful if you do not have the courage to try new things. Improvement is always changing, and if you don’t change, there is no way you can improve.
Decisiveness Is A Trait Of Successful People
Karl’s book, Heart of a Student Athlete: All-Pro Advice for Competitors and Their Families is a great place to start for anyone striving to make it to the NFL. It talks about a number of different factors that allowed Karl to become successful and make it to the NFL. His number one piece of advice though, is decisiveness.
Decisiveness is all about preparation; going into each situation understanding what might happen and then allowing yourself to go. Karl was the 310th pick in the draft, but what made him one of the best to ever play the game is that he was decisive. He would take that first step. If you take the first step in the right direction. before anyone else does, all of the angles will change in your favor. Taking the first step in the right direction before anybody else does, you have it made and you have the opportunity to be successful and open a whole lot of doors.
Practice, Drilling, & Training
Practice, drilling, and training is huge. It is closely tied to your clarity and consistency in your pursuit of what is important to you. Is what is important to you something you are thinking about and doing every day? Are you taking another step towards that desire, passion, or mission each day? You have to practice, drill, and train. Through this, you will fail, but you have to allow yourself to fail. Then you need to acknowledge the fact that you failed, followed by setting goals to fix those failures.
Overcoming Adversity
Failure is a part of becoming successful. People misunderstand success. They believe success is because someone had a golden life. This can not be further from the truth. Everybody who is successful has had to overcome, overcome, and overcome. If you are not getting knocked down and failing, then you are not pushing hard enough, and are likely not reaching your full potential.
You Need To Believe That Anything Is Possible
If you don’t believe that something is possible, then it is not possible. There are at least 100 other people that are pushing for what you are pushing for. If you are not pushing for it, they will get there before you do. Karl’s whole concept of success is based on where your passion, mission, and desires fall.
Success Is Dependent on Focus
Karl’s passion, mission, and desire was that he wanted to be the greatest player to ever play the game. There were 110 other players in training camp and every single one of them were more gifted athletically than he was. Why did Karl make it and they didn’t? It was because of that focus. When Karl made a decision, it was based on being the greatest NFL player to ever play the game.
