Tom Brady remains the greatest self-motivator in the history of sports.
Even when nary a person alive can legitimately scoff at the seven-time Super Bowl champ, TB12 still finds a way to keep that chip on his shoulder fresh.
Joining Good Morning America recently, Brady told Michael Strahan that he was motivated last season by people who believed he couldn't win in a new city.
"I was always kind of motivated by people that say 'you can't do it.' You know, 'you're not good enough, you're not fast enough, not big enough, you're not [a] good enough arm,'" Brady said. "I've had a body of work over a period of time, so you know, you just say, hey [and] quickly you forget.
"I think that's a great part about football. It's not really about what you did last year, it's kind of what you're going to do this year, so for me, it was what I was going to do for the Bucs last year. I still feel that way."
Brady's motivational tactics aren't new. Since being drafted 199th overall in the 2000 draft, the G.O.A.T. has always used slights, whether real or perceived, to fuel his maniacal competitiveness.
After 20 years in New England, Brady took his talents to Tampa Bay last season, helping guide the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title. The QB said being in new surroundings helped rejuvenate him at 43 years old.
"You know when you're at the Patriots, everyone would always come to me and introduce themselves to me because I was kind of the mainstay," he said. "But I was the new guy for the first time, you know, and that was a really different experience."
Brady also noted the difference in coaching between Bill Belichick and Bruce Arians as part of the equation.
"When you're in one place for 20 years, you think that's the only way," Brady told Strahan, "and I think when you go to a different place you realize, 'wow -- there's another way that people do things.'"
