Setbacks are 100% inevitable.

In life, in careers, in relationships, in training and in racing. You can not avoid them, ever. Let that sink in for a minute…

What can make a setback so detrimental is the mental capacity you allow it to take up (or don’t allow it to take up). Things happen that most often are out of our control. What matters most in these moments are how you handle yourself. Not how you “handle the things that happened”..but how you reacted (or didn’t), how you responded (or didn’t), how you felt (or didn’t).

Apply this thought process to your training and racing as an athlete and it can make a massive difference in your experiences along the way. Here are THREE quick tips to put this into practice right now…

DECIDE TO BE POSITIVE – Focus on the positivity of your training or racing. Fixate on the negative and you’ll receive more of precisely that…negativity!

LEARN FROM THE SETBACK – If you missed a time cutoff, or training goal or distance achievement it’s not because YOU are a failure, in any way. Something didn’t line up for that session or day, it’s as simple as that. Realize your future success (however that’s defined) is trapped inside your current mental attitude and mindset.

OWN IT – Don’t shift or deflect the blame…remove the blame all together. Talk to your inner self and your subconscious. Ask yourself questions about the experience or incident with positive inflections. “What did I do right that went well?” “What can I do to improve?” — Avoid negative thoughts, thinking and questions.