I’ve been a little surprised over the last few days when I ask my students at the dojo if they watched the Super Bowl. (They are also probably surprised to hear someone talk about football in a martial arts school). Only around 10% of them say yes. It’s the most watched TV event in the entire world! I guess I’m happy that they had better things to do, but if you didn’t watch this year, you should at least see the highlights. It was one of the craziest games I’ve ever seen.
Not only were there plenty of amazing plays, but the game saw one of the most incredible comebacks in the history of sports (this is not an over-statement). After being dominated for nearly 3 quarters by the Falcons and down 28 to 3, the Patriots scored 25 points to tie the game and send it to the first ever Super Bowl overtime. They then won the coin toss and marched down the field to score a touchdown and win the game.
Momentum
While there were lots of factors at play in this game, I want to talk about one in particular: momentum. Momentum plays a huge roll in our practice of martial arts, as well as in most areas of life. For example, in Kung Fu, we have good days and bad days. On a good day, everything seems easy. We stay in the moment and feel fast and strong. On a bad day, all it takes is one technique gone awry. We throw a weak punch or don’t side-step fast enough, and all of a sudden we are stuck. We think about that last bad technique and instead of being present for the next count, we are looking and feeling worse and worse as class goes on.
In the Super Bowl, all the momentum was in favor of the Falcons through most of the game. They seemed unstoppable. Their defense was a wall, and their quarterback Matt Ryan made unbelievable throws. They were steam-rolling through the game, making it seem easy. Nobody gave the Patriots a chance.
Yet the Patriots made a stop and scored a touchdown with 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. This instantly changed the momentum of the game. How was this possible? Any normal person in this situation would have given up long ago. Yet the Patriots and Tom Brady (now widely considered the greatest quarterback of all time) seemingly knew they could come back at any time. We experience the same phenomenon in practice. Instead of allowing the momentum to get the better of us, we can choose to move on. We are unattached to the last moment, even to the entirety of class that has already happened. This can pull us out of a slump and completely change the momentum to our favor. The same happens in life.
The J Curve
Remember that scene in Star Trek IV (spoiler) where they sling shot around the sun to travel back in time? Momentum can have this funny effect too. It can act like the curve of a J: you are heading down, then slingshot back up even faster. A turnaround in momentum leads to a higher place. Think of the last really challenging martial arts workout you had in class. You feel beat at the end, like you could hardly walk off the mats. Yet you come back stronger the next day, both in mind and body. The Patriots played like this. They were heading down hard, were down by 25 points, yet came back even stronger and scored 31 unanswered points to win.
This kind of swing in momentum happens all the time. In fact, we can say that improvement doesn’t act like a solid line, but more like a succession of J’s:
J
J
J
J
We improve, then dip down, then swing back up. We can use momentum, or it can own us. By being mindful and staying in the moment, unattached to the way things have become, we can change the course of momentum to our favor.
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