![Photo Courtesy of Scrunchleface [Flickr]](http://www.thepracticalnerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/2841480235_ff3618af6e.jpg "Photo Courtesy of Scrunchleface [Flickr]")
Last night, my Green Bay Packers beat one of their toughest challengers this season, the Baltimore Ravens, 27-14. It was a fun game to watch, and it feels good to watch a team that lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers only a month ago put on a streak and rejuvenate their hopes for the playoffs.
But boy, was it ugly.
Between the Ravens and the Packers, there were over 300 yards of penalties in this game. It was in the top-3 most-penalized games of all-time. Ouch.
But after all is said and done, they won. They overcame the penalties, and won the game. When people look at the 2009 season, they’ll see a “W” on that one. They won’t see all the penalties, they won’t see the sloppiness. They’ll see a victory. Do you treat life like that?
Are you focusing on the penalties of life? I do sometimes. It’s easy to get down on yourself for the mistakes you make. But they don’t tell the whole story. At the end of the day, did you get a victory? We make mistakes. Everybody does. Just like every NFL team gets charged penalties, we all screw up. It’s a part of life. What happens next is what matters. Did you pick yourself up and dust yourself off? Or did you wallow in it and feel sorry for yourself?
Mistakes DO tell part of the story – you need to watch them and learn from them. Post-game press conferences all indicated that the Packers were happy to win, but they need to learn from all those penalties and fix those problems. It’s time you did the same.
Tom is an entrepreneur and freelance writer, working out of his apartment full-time, or wherever he feels like taking his laptop. He doesn't take long European vacations or blogs on the beach. He's an Average Joe that took control of his life. He wants you to do the same.
