Choice. We have choice. After a practice or competition or test, a student-athlete can respond in a multitude of ways. If they perform well, they can be happy and satisfied and not see any need to change what they are doing (not a great choice). If they perform poorly, they can become self-consumed and focus on the disappointing result or goal not met and allow the performance to negatively impact their future practices, competitions or exams (not a great choice). Then there are those (these are the successful people) who see competition and practice and exams as one more step in a very long staircase that takes them upward toward their goals. A successful step gets us closer to our goal but that doesn't make the rest of the steps any easier or already achieved. (it is a staircase and not an escalator) All steps are equal and one step merely brings you to another equal step. So ... What did we learn from that successful step and how can we use that to make the next step even better and also successful? And when we do find ourselves slipping or stumbling on the step (it happens), do we forget about all of the progress we have made up the staircase? Do we go limp and lay on that step or even worse, allow ourselves to slide all the way down to the bottom of the staircase? Or ... do we realize that this was a small moment in time and only one step of many and we get up and take another step forward and upward. Getting better requires responding appropriately to both successes and failures. We can and should learn from both.
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