• August 5, 2022

What is a Butkus?

The pin play is the most basic play in the game. Objective: gain a yard. The quarterback takes the snap, pivots, and hands the ball to the fullback, who hits the line of scrimmage, head-on. The goal is to gain a yard or two. It’s not pretty, and it rarely creates a big play, but it builds confidence by creating a clear goal and achieving it. Simply put, if you don’t have the drive and determination to gain a yard, how on earth would you expect to score a touchdown?

Finding something assumes that you are looking for it! Finding your Butkus, in essence, means finding something you already own. It’s already a part of you, perhaps hidden deep within your psyche or, more likely, just tucked away in a simple place. Right under your nose, in your heart.

In Kevin Costner’s film “A Field if Dreams,” his character, Ray Kinsella, hears a voice from the cornfield: “If you build it, he’ll come.” He is asked to trust a whisper and listen to a feeling. The voice wants him to listen and then act, completely by faith.

While the tall corn may not be calling your name, I’m sure you’ve had an inspired thought while taking a shower or driving a car. A feeling that says to take action.

His Butkus, I tell him with a wink, is slightly to the south reaching and meeting his rear. With both hands I might add! Perhaps the reason you haven’t found your Butkus yet is because you’re sitting on it!

So what is a Butkus?

No, it’s not But-Kis, it’s pronounced But-Kus. You say it deliberately, and always with attitude. If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably heard the name, Dick Butkus. In fact, most people in North America have heard that name, though they may not know who or what he is.

And yes, it is a strange name.

But there is nothing funny about the image or the iconic status that this name represents. As a four-year-old, when I first heard this name and saw the NFL image of Dick Butkus, he intrigued me. Actually, it was more like, “in awe.”

states of NFL Films; “Dick Butkus played football with a religious fervor, with an unrelenting obsession, not to stand out, but to dominate and demoralize. For Dick Butkus it was never a game, but a street fight, a place for everyone, a war without restrictions. Butkus “He was the most destructive defender in the game and the NFL is full of stories of men who crossed paths with him. He was a force of unmanageable proportions; he was Moby Dick in a fishbowl. His career stands as the most sustained piece of devastation in history.” .committed on a football pitch by anyone, anywhere, at any time.”

Dick Butkus is remembered as the toughest man to ever play professional football. A guy who, no matter what; he wouldn’t quit. He never won a championship or a Superbowl; Hell, his team was so bad they didn’t even make it to a playoff game. However, that didn’t stop him from becoming one of the best players in NFL history.

As a twelve-year-old football player myself, I wanted to be Dick Butkus. Everything, from his oversized walk, to the colors of his uniform, was formidable. Everything captured my imagination. His linebacker stance, crouched like a cougar ready to pounce, was intimidating enough. But when he moved, fully engaged, he launched himself with reckless abandon; he was like no other player on the field.

Butkus, for me, became a metaphor for movement and a symbol of effort and achievement. No matter what the odds are, you never give up. If I summoned my Butkus, I knew what to do and when to do it.

Now that I’ve painted a picture of what Butkus looked like and how important he was, I have to tell you that I didn’t get it right away. In fact, it took me more than thirty years to understand it. I had to search deep into my memories to find something I thought I already knew.

And that is the problem! “Having means nothing if you don’t know how to use” is a topic for later discussion, but for now, it’s safe to say; simply knowing something does not make it valuable.

Well-informed people are often overworked, underpaid, and looked down upon not only by others but, for the most part, by themselves. Michelangelo, the great artist (not the ninja turtle) says: “The greatest danger for most of us is not setting our goal too high and falling short, but setting our goal too low and reaching the goal.”

Have you been achieving the low side of what you ask for? Looking for success in all the wrong places? You were taught, as I was, that opportunities required years of suffering to achieve. Are they out of your control? Were you told to learn more, build skills you didn’t have, and go to places set up by someone else? Then when you came you told him again, it would be hard, in fact life was hard. You had to be tough and learn to put up with what you don’t want, in order to get what you do! Shit.

I mean, what you want – wants you, what you seek seeks you. What you want does not simply exist, more exactly, it already exists within you. It’s not difficult, but yes, it’s intense and requires your full attention. Have you heard, I am sure of the natural laws of the universe? I contend that the “Law of Attraction” does not exist as an external magnet to get you what you want, but rather synchronises your desires to bring you more of what you already have.

In the movie ‘The Lion King’, Mufasa calls from the heavens to his son, Simba, ordering him to “Remember who you are!” Your job is to find, maybe just remember “what” it is that you already own. it will lead you to find your Butkus.

Strike that; Remember who you are! Find your own words, Find your??? in the life!

Just like the basic diving game, create a target you can trust, one that builds trust. Keep it simple, something as warm as a puppy. Guaranteed to gain a yard whenever you need it. Just feeling good can put you in the right frame of mind to start realizing what’s important.

It’s not finding out what works in life, no, it’s finding your joy. Trust me, if my dream was a guy named Dick Butkus, can what you want be crazier? Open the door to your desires, listen to your field of dreams, and then allow all the people, places, and things you desire to come to you.

Bob Mueller is an EMMY AWARD winner. He uses the Finding Your Butkus story in Key Note Speeches, Training & Coaching. http://www.encontrandotubutkus.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *