Rodgers Talks Success, Fatherhood, Jeopardy, Watches

GREEN BAY, Wis. – To discuss his new partnership with Swiss luxury watchmaker Zenith, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers joined Zenith CEO Julien Tornare on Instagram on Thursday. Here is some of that conversation.

Playing quarterback is about precision. It’s the same for a great watch.

“It’s all about opportunity,” Rodgers said. “Now is the opportunity for Zenith to come to the States to increase its brand awareness even more. For me, it’s the same thing. I always wanted an opportunity. I was underrecruited as a young player. I went to junior college. There’s not many NFL guys that go that route. I knew my opportunities would be few and far between but, when I got them, I knew I had to show the type of player that I was and I had a chance to be a star. It was waiting for those moments and honing my skills over and over and over. That’s the beauty in just getting to know the brand. The dedication that the watchmakers have and the focus on being as precise as possible to where there’s not any competitors as far as the way that this timepiece is made.”

On his childhood dream:

“It was a professional athlete, for sure. My favorite athletes growing up were Michael Jordan and anybody on the San Francisco 49ers. I was a big Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Steve Young fan. I believe I was 6 years old, I was sitting in the living room watching Joe Montana, my hero at the time, in the Super Bowl drive down the length of the field and score a touchdown to win the game. I remember going to the backyard dreaming of being that guy, the guy in the Super Bowl leading the team to victory. That’s what I focused on doing. I played basketball and soccer and some baseball and some other sports for a while and loved those. I just loved competing. But football always had that draw in my heart. I kept that in the forefront of my mind and focused on that and eventually got there, and the rest is history.”

On motivation before he was a star:

“I think the best athletes or the best businesspeople are self-motivated. I think we can all draw inspiration from people. We have people in our lives, whether it’s teachers or parents or colleagues or mentors who can inspire us. I think those are really, really important people – people you draw energy from and help you reset your goals and give you something to shoot for. But true motivation has to come from within and you have to be a self-starter. You have to be able to make sacrifices and do things that other people aren’t wanting to do to get to where you want to go. That was always my mind-set. It was actually the best thing to happen to me was to not be a blue-chip prospect, to not be on anybody’s radar, to always challenge myself. When I was waking up early before high school and working out and running after school and throwing after school, I just kept telling myself, ‘Those other guys in the top 100 quarterbacks in the country, they aren’t doing as much as I’m doing. One day I’m going to catch them and one day, when I get the opportunity, I’m going to show them what those scouts, what those rankers are missing.’ That’s the thing that’s gotten me by, even when I entered the pros, is being self-motivated. … Success, to me, isn’t about money or status. Success is about doing your absolute best and being comfortable looking in the mirror and going to sleep at night knowing that you did your absolute best. That’s true success. … True success is being able to be content with what you put in and knowing that you didn’t short-change yourself or anybody else. That’s what I’ve always tried to strive for.”

On staying motivated once he became a star:

“Complacency can’t help but kick in at some point for everybody because you get to a spot that you only could dream about for years and you look around and go, ‘Well, now what?’ There’s that moment, like the climber, ‘OK, I got to the top. I don’t want to go down. The sun is still up and there’s still beautiful views to be had.’ So you have to reinvent yourself or find that next mountain to climb. That’s what everybody who’s reached some sort of apex in their field has to do is you have to look for what is the next challenge. People who love being competitive and challenges, it’s fun, because there’s always something you can find motivation from or inspiration from, whether it’s reinventing yourself or reinventing what made you great or a company great, or fighting against Father Time and aging in a league that’s dominated for the most part by guys in their mid-20s. For Zenith, it’s continuing to be the best. After so many years of the absolute best quality in watchmaking and timepieces, how do you reinvent yourself? I think that’s the beauty in aligning ourselves is we’re both super-motivated with new challenges. We’ve set a standard. Now, what can we do? … It’s not that we’re not satisfied with where we’re at. That’s not the right attitude to have, where nothing is ever good enough. It’s a gratitude for where we’re at but also an excitement for what is next. That’s the beauty in life is being able to have that rooted gratitude and also the excitement for what’s coming next.”

On what he wants to achieve:

“Well, I think the next great challenge will be being a father. A lot of my close friends from high school and college are fathers now and have families of their own. Maybe not in the immediate future but definitely something that I really look forward to. It’s going to be a really fun challenge. I’ve done a pretty good job of taking care of myself for the last 37 years and look forward to taking care of another life. I just think it’d be so fun. I have dreamt about what that would be like and I’m really excited about that chapter, whenever that comes.”

On guest-hosting Jeopardy, a two-week run of shows that will debut on April 5:

“I loved it. I had a blast. Jeopardy, that was one thing that I was really looking forward to after the season. I’ve just had a love for that show for so long. I love trivia shows. I was on there as a contestant six years ago and won it, and I always wanted to come back. I wanted to come back and play. I didn’t, under the circumstances with Alex unfortunately succumbing to cancer, but I was really honored to be there. I feel like I did justice to his memory and tried to handle myself with as much respect for the job as possible because I love the show and the show meant so much to so many of us who grew up watching it every night.”

On what’s next this offseason:

“I’m going to ease back into my workout routine. The season is thankfully months away but I’m starting to get my body back. Travel a little bit within the States because of the bans but probably travel a little bit, see some people and get back into the workouts and find a couple good books to read.”

On fans wondering whether he will write a book:

“I have a lot of good stories. I think anybody who’s played in the NFL, there’s just idiosyncrasies about the league that are hilarious that I’ve shared from time to time over the years. I’ve joked at times about wanting to write down some of the stories. I have some of them written down but I don’t really have any desire to write a book at this point. I feel like there’s still a lot of chapters to be written. So, maybe down the line in a couple decades, but right now I enjoy reading them a lot more.”