HAVING A GREAT MEMORY IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
There have been several articles written that chronicle the rising stock of Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert in next week’s NFL draft. Most of the recent articles attribute this rise in stock to his great memory. While I do not question the fact that Gabbert has an extraordinarily good memory, I do question the NFL’s fixation on it as it applies to making him a high first round pick.
Having a great memory is no different than having great physical talent. It’s nice to have, but does not mean much if you don’t use it properly. I have worked with athletes and executives who have had extraordinary memories and have seen first hand how beneficial it can be to learning. I have also seen how some of these people were held back from achieving their full potential by that same memory.
Sometimes the most important step in moving forward is putting the past behind you. If you’re a quarterback who has just thrown an interception and are still thinking about it going forward, you are more than likely going to throw another one soon. Similarly, if you are a business executive who has suffered a setback and can’t get it out of your mind, you are far less likely to be successful moving forward.
There’s an old saying that to be a great player in most sports, it’s imperative that you possess a short memory. Or as writer and philosopher Elbert Hubbard famously stated “A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness.” Success in almost any endeavor has more to do with the choices you make than the natural advantages you have. When you use what you have effectively, you can turn negatives into positives. Conversely, history is littered with people who possessed great natural abilities yet turned them into failures with their choices.
One of the knocks on Blaine Gabbert is that at times he appears to fear failure and thus lose control of situations. Those are problems related to bringing memories of past failures into the here and now. I always tell my clients: You can change your future, but you can’t change your past.
Gabbert’s extraordinary memory if used properly could propel him to great heights, but it is not a good reason to pin high hopes on him as your franchise quarterback. His memory could eventually prove to be a liability instead of the strength that it is currently considered. From what I have seen of him, I do think Gabbert has an excellent chance of having a very successful NFL career. Ultimately, the situation he ends up in and how he uses his memory will go a long way towards determining how that turns out.
