By Troy Vincent
NFL Player Engagement
As a former professional athlete, it’s time to take stock of your standards.
You lived your dream of playing in the National Football League, and now have arrived into the NEXT phase of your life and career.
The standards you set to achieve your goals in the game are the same ones that will serve you well during this time of transition.
No single standard is more important than managing relationships and caring for those closest to you.
Chances are that those in your inner circle contributed mightily to your success on-the-field, where you refused to lose and accepted no mediocrity.
Now, those traits and others need to carry on for each individual as you each set a lifetime of standards to follow past your playing days.
In a separate NFLPE article this month, we feature one former player who has done this successfully in former New England Patriot Matt Light.
The three-time Super Bowl Champion just held his foundation’s ninth annual Celebrity Shoot-Out, where the standards he set for this event, while establishing and growing it during his playing days, have blossomed into this day being even bigger and better after retirement.
Not only did some of his former retired teammates again turn out to enjoy a clay-shooting competition, current Patriots were there as well, a testament to the relationships he maintains.
The reason is simple, that Light set high standards for himself as a player that he carried over to his off-field activities in building his foundation that benefits at-risk teens, while also enjoying life as a family man.
“I’ve got four beautiful kids and I’ve got an unbelievable wife, so I’ve got a lot to be thankful for. I’ve got a foundation that works with kids from all over the country, I just launched a vodka company recently, so we are really working hard at that, and I’ve also got some other developments that we are currently working on now.”
Words spoken by a man enjoying a purposeful and successful life just 18 months after leaving the game, and as he references below, resonate with those in transition.
“I am extremely busy, and I think that’s what you have to be. You have to go from an (NFL) environment that’s 100 miles per hour, and very organized and very structured. You can’t just walk away from that because then you’re left twiddling your thumbs, and I see it happen to guys all the time. You have to be able to go at something with the same passion that you did when you were playing. I’ve been fortunate to be able to do that.”
Fortunate indeed to have a passion in his NEXT life, where he sharpens the standards he set up while playing, and now is reaping the rewards.