Not saying it’s anywhere close to being comparable, but.....
I had to take a series of 11 professional exams to join a professional society that’s required for a full career in my field. Offered every 6 months, passing rates between 40-50% of exam takers. Not exaggerating when I say that each exam required about 300 hours of study time to learn the material to the extent they required. Exams started at 8:30 in the morning. I used to study late into the night the night before. One sitting I basically wound up panicking during the exam because I was so jittery; failed that one pretty badly.
Changed my strategy the next exam. I closed my books at 5:00 the night before the exam. Under the theory that if I don’t know this stuff by now, nothing I can do from here will help any further. I intentionally tried to do the most lighthearted things that evening to try to relax me. Watching Caddyshack, etc. I was so relaxed during the exam because my mind was so clear. Hit hard questions, didn’t panic and was able to answer them. This exam turned out to be a harder exam than the last time but I passed it this time - even though I knew the material just as well both times.
Followed this strategy for all subsequent exams. I wasn’t perfect - went 9 for 13 as opposed to the 2 for 6 before implementing this strategy - but I was happy knowing that the 4 failures weren’t due to analysis paralysis. They were due to either not having the material down pat (and late night cramming wouldn’t have helped) or curveball exams where they tested items that hadn’t been tested in 10 years and I made the strategic decision to not waste time studying for. Those things happen.
I think Belichick might be feeling something similar - he has changed his approach since SB 42 (which really did seem to suffer from football “analysis paralysis” with the undefeated season pressure added) and has done more light prep at the end this decade compared to the past.
