Determination and hard work are no fun, but what I’ve learned from watching TCU during the past few years can be applied to more than just football.

1. First you need a goal. Then you need to write it down. Then commit to it.
A pyramid of steps supporting the top goal of a national championship hangs in the TCU locker room. The bottom level includes attitude, extra effort, mental toughness, chemistry and accountability. They’ve taken a huge goal and they’ve broken it down into achievable steps and they look at those steps every day.

2. You actually have to work toward achieving the steps leading toward your goal.
The football team holds regular practices. Have you scheduled a regular time when you work toward your goal?

3. Be prepared to give something up to achieve your goal.
I’m sure there were times when the team would have rather slept in or watched TV or partied with friends instead of working out. But they knew if they weren’t physically prepared, they couldn’t win games.

4. You have to live with yourself.
There’s a saying that you should be careful how you treat people on the way up because they’re the ones you’ll meet on the way down. I’ve liked how their coach refuses to beat up weaker teams for the sake of running up the score. Decisive victories, yes. Obscene blowouts, no.

5. Stick to your game plan. Be consistent.
There are going to be ups and downs, but if you stick with what’s been working for you, you’ll achieve your goals. Sometimes in bowl games, teams forget the methods that got them there and try for flashy plays that don’t work and then they panic. And fail.

6. On the other hand, you need to adjust your steps if you realize they won’t help you achieve your goal.
To play for the national championship, realistically, a school must belong to a conference that’s part of something called the BCS (Bowl Championship Series). TCU is not and after winning all the regular season games for the last two years, it was obvious that they wouldn’t be able to reach their goal of a national championship unless they joined a BCS conference. So that’s what they did.

7. How you handle victory is as important as how you handle defeat.

8. Don’t lose sight of what’s important.
Sometimes it will be your goal and working toward it, and sometimes something else will take precedence. And that’s okay.

Anyone else setting goals this year?

Sometimes they get it right. Some of my favorites have been the E*Trade Baby, who’ll return this year, the Hulu ad with Alec Baldwin, the Budweiser lizards taking out a hit on the frogs, and the dog coaching a Clydesdale so he can make the team next year. There have been some incredibly bad ones, too. I’m lookin’ at you, MacGruber. SoBe? Football players as ballerinas? Mutant lizards? And you want us to drink your product?

This year’s advertisements are listed here, along with videos if you miss any. Come back after the game and tell me your hits and misses. Tomorrow is okay, too. As a bribe reward, I’ll give away a copy of HIS LITTLE BLACK BOOK, my March Blaze. It’s an Encounters and the first story features a hero deciding on a Super Bowl commercial. How’s that for a coincidence?