I remember, in 2008, and we won the Champions League and the Premier League, and we were having our photos taken with the trophies, and someone said to me, 'Patrice, you don't look happy.' I said, 'It's because we are missing the FA Cup.'
I've never wanted to just ride on coat tails. I don't know, if you don't earn something then it doesn't feel as good.
But I was always a bit of a gypsy, anyway. I spent five years at Oklahoma State, five years at Miami and moved on after winning the national championship, and five years with the Cowboys. So, I was ready to move on. We won back-to-back Super Bowls, and I felt that I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish.
When I know that I have played as well as I can. It doesn't matter so much whether I have won or lost. But being completely satisfied with myself? That's something that never really happens to me.
You know, in terms of accomplishments and things like that, I feel like I've accomplished what I've wanted.
You get that air of satisfaction from achievement. It makes you feel good. We are only here for a very short time, and so you're crazy if you don't go out and try to milk it to the greatest extent you can.
When you manage a big team like River Plate or Madrid, they are used to winning titles. The people are happy, but they are used to it. When you have an achievement like I had in Villarreal, reaching the semi-final of the Champions League, finishing second in the league, it's more than winning a title. It's more.
I might be more satisfied seeing my friends really come up than myself. I'm really happy for my success, but I can't really see it, because I'm myself working. You can see it; everyone around me can see it.
I was able to make the jump to theaters without having a TV show. My passion for getting a TV show just plummeted. It was like I had already achieved what I wanted to achieve.
It is true I'd rather get a hole in one than win an Academy Award.
I remember the excruciating school task of writing a three-page term paper. But, oh, that feeling when I was done! I think I drive myself for that feeling of accomplishment.
As soon as you win the Cup, you don't want to lose that feeling. You want to win more than one. As soon as you taste it, it's kind of like a really good restaurant. You go there once, and you want to come back more than once because it's great.
I'm realistic. I look for my own target that I set in my head beginning of the season. Once I get there, that's when I start enjoying scoring.
The final moment of success is often no more thrilling than taking off a heavy backpack at the end of a long hike. If you went on the hike only to feel that pleasure, you are a fool. Yet people sometimes do just this. They work hard at a task and expect some special euphoria at the end. But when they achieve success and find only moderate and short-lived pleasure, they ask is that all there is? They devalue their accomplishments as a striving after wind. We can call this the progress principle: Pleasure comes more from making progress toward goals than from achieving them.
