All Weekly Sharpening Posts

December 1, 2021

Why “All Gas No Brakes” is a Bad Idea (Part 1)

Steve Sarkisian, head coach of The University of Texas football team, had this to say at his introductory press conference last January.

“To Longhorn Nation, it’s time to go to work.  Clearly, you guys have probably seen my mantra.  This work will be all gas and no brakes.  We will go to it full fledge, we will lay down on the hammer and get it.”

Awkwardly worded, but UT officials loved the idea of “All Gas No Brakes” so much that they got their lawyers involved and trademarked it.

The irony is, Texas is ending the season with a disastrous record, one of the worst in its history.

All Gas No Brakes.  Hmmm.  At best, I’d say that Texas Football has been running on fumes all season. 

Non-football fans, this isn’t really about football, I promise.  There’s something for you in the next two posts if you keep reading.  Many men have adopted this unhealthy way of thinking without even realizing it.

Even if UT had a perfect record this season and was playing in another National Championship game, All Gas No Brakes is a horrible mantra to live by.  [And no, it’s not my bitterness as a UT graduate motivating me to write about this.]  I give a lot of thought to how I live and can speak from experience that an All Gas No Brakes approach to life creates unhealthy leadership and ends in burnout and broken relationships.

Next week we’ll look at how this mantra hurts others, and the following week, we’ll look at how it hurts you.