In football, one of the most interesting calls is that of Forward Progress. The logistics are as follows.  If you catch a ball and are pushed back say 2 or 3 yards after being tackled, the ruling is that you get the ball from the position where you catch it not where you end up.  One might question why in a game where you make a living of hitting people and trying to stop opponents for going forward you get the ball from your furthest most position forward.  Beside the point.

If you think about life has its very own variation of the forward progress rule.  We all reach points in our life where we’ve progressed forward to a good point.  It may be a new job, graduating from school, a new family, a new relationship- whatever it may be, we’ve caught our proverbial ball and ran with it.  But then something happens.  We struggle with our jobs, we struggle finding a job, our relationship ends- we get pushed back a few yards.   However, like in football, we’ve still reached that high point and despite being pushed back we’re actually ahead of where we ended up.  We’ve done something well and worked hard to graduate or get a good job.  The point being made is that we have that ability to get back to these high points despite being pushed back.

In football its a given, you’ll automatically get the forward progress rule. This is the difference in the forward progress rule in football versus the forward progress rule in life.  It’s not automatic in life.  You may have to work a bit harder to get back to your high point, but you can take sanction in the fact thatyou’ve been there before. The goal in football is to ultimately get past the goal line and score that touchdown.  Life is about getting to a goal line as well. The line is that of your personal goals.  Getting there will give you your touchdown, it just takes some persistence and constant pushing, despite the tackles and sacks that come your way.