Celebrities like Tom Brady use “The Four Agreements” to navigate public scrutiny

16 Sep Celebrities like Tom Brady use “The Four Agreements” to navigate public scrutiny

by Rachel Perlmutter

Oftentimes, television, cinema, and sports figures are judged by others for incidents publicized in the media. Those viewing this information only get what is fed to them, not the whole story.

Celebrities cannot achieve and go on to maintain such high levels of success in the public eye without also learning to manage their own reaction to the frequent scrutiny that comes with publicity.

In this excerpt (taken from the blog post http://blog.masslive.com) football hero Tom Brady discusses how he uses The Four Agreements “as a mantra for life” and how it serves to help him when he finds himself being criticized and judged by millions of people.

Brady did mention that a book – The Four Agreements – has helped him through tough times over the years.

“I read a pretty cool book about nine years ago that is kind of a mantra for my life,” Brady said. “One of the mantras in the book was ‘Don’t take things personally’ because a lot of times it’s not about you. It’s about how others may feel about themselves and not necessarily about me personally, Tom Brady.”

“Because I don’t think a lot of people know personally who I am. They may know what they think I may be, or what they see on the TV screen. But my own personal thoughts, my interactions I have with the people closest to me – my family, my friends, so forth – those people know me best. So for people who may think they know or have snippets of who I am, look, you can attack that person. I think that’s just part of being a public figure. Since going to a pretty high profile college 20 years ago, you get held to a different standard, and if you don’t like it, then you choose to do something else. But if that’s what you’re going to choose, you’ve got to be open to the things that come along with it and not complain about when things don’t go your way, because like I’ve said, I’ve had so many things that have gone my way.”

To see the complete blog post, visit: http://blog.masslive.com/patriots/2015/09/tom_brady_interview_deflategat.html

The Four Agreements are principles that people can follow in their lives to live to their fullest potential, free themselves from needless suffering based on the opinions of others, and enjoy life as their authentic selves. Click here to learn more or to buy the book.