If I want to be the best, I have to take risks others would avoid, always optimizing the learning potential of the moment and turning adversity to my… - Joshua Waitzkin

If I want to be the best, I have to take risks others would avoid, always optimizing the learning potential of the moment and turning adversity to my advantage.

When aiming for the top, your path requires an engaged, searching mind. You have to make obstacles spur you to creative new angles in the learning process. Let setbacks deepen your resolve. You should always come off an injury or a loss better than when you went down.

So if you think that when you are better, it means that you can smash ahead and mate the guy, you are wrong, that is not what better means. What better means is that your position has the potential, if played correctly, to turn out well. So do not think that when you are better and when you are attacking that you can just force mate. That is not what it is about. Often the way to play best, the way to play within the position, is to maintain it.

My instinct is always to seek out challenges as opposed to avoiding them.

In the long run, painful losses may prove much more valuable than wins. Those who are armed with a healthy attitude, and are able to draw wisdom from every experience, good or bad, are the ones who make it down the road. They are also the ones who are happier along the way.