J.J. Watt and Success
NFL Football Player and His Road To Be The Best
By: Dane Schumacher | Business Major
On January 7, 2011, the Houston Texans faced off against the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the playoffs. The game was tied at ten with a minute left in the first half. The Texans stadium rumbling as J.J. Watt lined up across from Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton on the Bengals 33-yard line. Dalton took the snap, Watt getting off the line swims to the left and leaps in the air as Dalton loaded up to throw. Watt miraculously came down with the ball and ran the ball back for a Houston touchdown as the stadium erupted in excitement (Mays). NBC announcer, Mike Mayock said, “I’m not sure there’s a defensive tackle in the league that would catch that football” (Wild 0:18).
J.J. Watt has proved to be one of the greats in NFL history. From growing up in small-town Pewaukee, Wisconsin to becoming a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, he has proven to the world that he is one of the best of his craft (Klemko). In Outliers: The Story of Success written by Malcolm Gladwell, he makes the case that success doesn’t just happen. As Gladwell writes in Outliers, “Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities” (155). Success comes from various different sources and everyone who has become successful has experienced these. Watt’s success has not been an easy ride. J.J. Watt reflects Gladwell’s Outliers theories of grit, 10,000 hours, and meaningful work that led him to his football success.
In the winter of Watt’s sophomore year of high school, he wakes up at the dawn of the day to flurries of snow falling hard in the city of Pewaukee, Wisconsin. In the cold of the blizzard, Watt, eager to get some work in before school, texts his trainer Arnett to be ready for the workout. They began their workout in jackets until the building’s heat started up (Klemko).
J.J. Watt has a grit built inside himself that is rarely found in people. He strives for perfection in his craft whatever that may be, if it is football, working out, or family. This grit comes from wanting to be the best at whatever it is he does no matter the cost. As Watt explains while acting in Hollywood, “I think I’m always my biggest critic, no matter what … No matter what anybody else says, I always take the hardest look at myself. And I’m trying to be the best at everything I do. So yeah, if I screw up a take out here, I get pissed about it. I take everything hard” (Silver). He does some crazy things that not a lot of people would do; sacrificing something to be great.
Since high school, Watt has always had the motto of “Dream Big. Work Hard,” guide his life and encourages others to do the same as well. In his interview with Graham Bensinger, Watt explains that people should be dreaming big and dreaming to do whatever their greatest ambition in life. But more importantly, you have to work hard to achieve those dreams. Having passion and commitment towards hard work and making sacrifices to make those dreams come true (Bensinger).
Because sleep is so vitally important to Watt he makes it a priority in his life. He’ll make sure he has ten hours a night. And for a hectic schedule like that, it means he has to go to bed at seven or seven-thirty each night. He’d find that what he was doing might be crazy but it was necessary for him, saying, “I’d look outside and it was still light out, and I was kinda like, What are you doing, guy? That’s probably part of why people call me crazy” (Silver).
Malcolm Gladwell’s success trait of grit fits very well with J.J. Watt. In Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell states, “No one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich” (238). Watt is doing exactly that. He is working hard every day to become the greatest defensive player the NFL will ever see.
Marita is a young child that attends middle school at KIPP, a high-level school in the poorest parts New York to help kids create a better future for themselves. She and her mom live in a small one-bedroom apartment on the verge of poverty. KIPP isn’t just any school. It is a special school formulated around helping kids succeed in new ways. A typical day has Marita waking up at five-forty-five in the morning and getting home after school at five-thirty. After starting homework soon after arriving at home she is often finishing up with homework at around ten at night due to the high intensity of homework given. This forces Marita’s life to revolve around school and only school. But Marita grinding out those nights for a reason. Finishing school at KIPP will help set her up to go to a great university leading to a fulfilling life. Working hard is very important to Marita’s success (Outliers 263)
Without hard work and the grit to stay awake on those late nights as a child Marita wouldn’t be able to achieve success. In Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success, he explains a vital trait in success is grit. Grit is about doing the hard work and the tough stuff to achieve what is great. Gladwell writes, “No one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich” (Outliers 238). Marita’s commitment to school, even if its hard will pays off in the future.
Watt embodies this theory of grit very well in his everyday actions. From being disciplined in his workouts and sleeping patterns he has the will to do whatever it takes to become the greatest defensive player the NFL has ever seen.
Watt wakes up early in the morning on September second, 2014. Anxious about what is to come for the rest of his NFL career. Today is the day Watt will be signing his huge new contract of 100 million dollars with the Houston Texans. Not knowing what to do to be ready for this amazing day, Watt goes and does only what he knows to do before his signing and goes to work out to relive his nerves (Klemko).
Watt is a workaholic. Everything that he does is aimed at being the greatest at what he does. His entire life revolves around his involvement with football twenty-four hours a day. Watt does some things that others might not be willing to do to be the best. As he says in an interview,
“Right now I’m trying to take every day so seriously and so passionately that I might be sacrificing aspects of life that other people seem to enjoy and tell me how great they are…Instead, I’m thinking about a practice rep that nobody remembers. That’s what I’m thinking about on a Tuesday night when I go to sleep. Maybe that makes me crazy” (Bensinger).
He has the motivation to sacrifice things that others might not be willing to sacrifice. Others may have families or many friends in the NFL, but Watt has football and football only. And that’s what brings him to be great.
Gladwell explains this road to success by the theory of 10,000 hours. Being able to practice or do something for 10,000 hours will bring you to be the best at whatever that is. In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, neurologist Daniel Levitin states that “the emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything” (40).
Famous composer Mozart used up these 10,000 hours in a very productive way starting at a young age. Being able to already have 10 years of composing amazing works by the age of twenty-one. But he didn’t stop there. He continued in his passion of composing leading him to create his most famous pieces after twenty plus more years of experience (Outliers 40). Doing what you love over a long period of time can develop someone to be an expert at whatever that may be.
Watt has had some incredible seasons at the defensive end winning a few defensive players of the year. Striving to be the greatest he says before his 2015 season, “If you want to be remembered as great, if you want to be a legend, you have to go out there every single day and do stuff” (Silver). J.J. Watt is already proved he’s great. But he’s not content with being great. He’s striving to be the greatest.
Watt is a very productive person and he himself had to find the right formula to success. In Watt’s interview with Graham Bensinger, he explains that you have to start by breaking up your day into ten-minute increments. Write down how many of those ten-minute slots you didn’t accomplish anything. The following day, try to do something productive in all of those ten minutes and success will come to follow you. Watt breaks it down, simply explaining, “You take the big dream and break it down into its simplest form. What can I do today to make myself better” (Bensinger 1:45)?
Watt is crazy about making sure he doesn’t leave a minute unproductive. He makes every minute meaningful to him and his vision in his life, moving him closer to achieving his dreams. This creates such a system that brings out the best in him. From his workouts to his meals Watt has everything planned to produce the best results. Watt is striving to be the greatest ever and that starts with the mentality of his work explaining, “Why would you do all that work if you’re not trying to be the best ever” (Bensinger 4:10).
J.J. Watt has a drive in his heart that pushes him to want to be successful and to do anything to achieve that success. A great deal of what he does portrays Gladwell’s theory of meaningful work. Gladwell shows that for work to be enjoyed there needs to be meaning in the work you are doing. He writes, “It is not how much money we make that ultimately makes us happy between nine and five. It’s whether our work fulfills us.” Meaningful work is work that you have accomplished and makes you feel satisfied in the end and in return it is motivation to keep on doing that same work. Also, the more meaningful work you can accomplish the quicker 10,000 hours can be completed to be the best at whatever you do (Outliers 150).
In 1889, Louis and Regina Borgenicht came to America to settle down and start a life after escaping poverty in Poland. Finding what America needed Louis went back to his roots and started sewing, something he knew very much about and found there was a business for it in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. But this did not come as an easy task. Both Louis and Regina would end up working day and night sewing aprons but it didn’t matter because they knew there was meaning behind their hard work. Soon enough the Borgenicht’s started to sell to big companies and gain a good profit. Eventually, they created a company of their own turning out to be very successful. But this did not just come out of luck. Louis and Regina found something that had a meaning to not only them but the people around them making them want to work hard for success. Gladwell explains it well saying, “Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning” (Outliers 139–150). Their work might have been an undesirable job at the time but it was a job that was needed in the community and the Borgenicht’s commitment to their meaningful labor lead them to greater opportunities in their life.
Watt embodies this theory well in his daily life. His mind is focused on football and his goals and dreams in life leading him to professional success. His drive to be the best is crazy but the hard work he puts in is for a reason saying, “Why would you do all that work if you’re not trying to be the best ever” (Bensinger 4:10). Being so engulfed in this push for meaningful work all of the time there has been some drawbacks in his life, but ultimately his successes far outweigh his drawbacks leading him to be one of the best.
Watt ran back out onto the field turf of Camp Randall Stadium for his last play in a Badger uniform. With already playing an incredible game with two forced fumbles and six tackles he lined up with the crowd roaring (J.J.). The ball was snapped as Watt rushed into the Northwestern backfield making another tackle for loss. Watt raced off the field for the last time and looked up into the crowd in awe as they chanted his name. Wisconsin won and was headed to the Rose Bowl once again and the field was rushed by some 80,000 fans. Somehow Watt found his mom among the crowd of thousands and embraced her in tears, anticipating the upcoming draft (Bensinger).
J.J. Watt wasn’t always the best player on the field. It took effort and drive to get to where he is today. His success is led through the ideas of Gladwell. Grit, 10,000 hours, and doing meaningful work all had a big part in how Watt has risen to the top. In order to become successful, certain opportunities have to occur. But like Watt people can dream to be whatever they want. But the dream itself is worthless without hard work and determination to back it up.
Works Cited
Bensinger, Graham. In Depth with Graham Bensinger.
Corbett, Jim. “J.J. Watt goes from pizza delivery man to NFL star.” USA Today, Oct. 9, 2012, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/texans/2012/10/09/watt-brings-energy-to-undefeated-texans/1623497/. 17 Nov. 2018.
Dickey, Jack. “J.J. Watt, Defensive End, Houston Texans.” Time, Vol. 186, Issue 12, p. 18. 28 Sept. 2015. Academic Search Premier. 24 Oct. 2018.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers. Back Bay Books, 2008.
“J.J. Watt Overview.” J.J. Watt, Sports Reference, https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/jj-watt-1/gamelog/2010/. 29 Nov. 2018.
Klemko, Robert. “J.J. Watt.” Sports Illustrated, 11 Dec. 2017, p.32–44.
Mays, Robert. “All Work and no Play for J.J. Watt.” Grantland, July 29, 2014, http://grantland.com/features/j-j-watt-houston-texans-2014-nfl-preview/. 17 Nov. 2018.
Silver, Michael. “The Unbelievable life of J.J. Watt.” NFL.com, Sept. 2015, http://www.nfl.com/lifeofwatt. 24 Oct. 2018.
Tompkins, Jim. “ISE: Industrial & Systems Engineering at Work.” Want Success? Get grit and hustle. Apr. 2018, Vol. 50, Issue 4, p. 24. Academic Search Premier.
Wild Card Can’t Miss Play: Watt a play!. NFL.com, 8 Jan. 2011, http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-cant-miss-plays/09000d5d825cb023/Wild-Card-Can-t-Miss-Play-Watt-a-play. 17 Nov. 2018.
About the author: DANE SCHUMACHER
Dane Schumacher, a freshman business major from Tustin, California, seeks a career in the business world. Schumacher likes watching and playing football, hanging out with friends and family, and bowling with the boys.
What I’ve Learned:
Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone helps make you more comfortable in the future.
Reading can be interesting and informative if written well.
Procrastination is a waste of time.
Always play football with the 3 F’s: Fast, Free, and Physical.
Don’t be lazy. Don’t fall behind. Stay caught up with work.
Persistence is key in getting to be good at anything. The more you practice or do something the more hours you build up to getting 10,000 hours.
When confronted with hardships, stick to your base and do what you know best.
Express yourself in writing, and name the dogs. Say what it is. Not your opinion of what it is.
Physicality has never had a bad day.
Speaking can be hard, but after saying your speech more than fifty times you might get lucky and say it right without messing up.
