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.

The secret is that everything is always on the line. The more present we are at practice, the more present we will be in competition, in the boardroom, at the exam, the operating table, the big stage. If we have any hope of attaining excellence, let alone of showing what we’ve got under pressure, we have to be prepared by a lifestyle of reinforcement. Presence must be like breathing.

…to incrementally condense the external manifestation of the technique, while keeping true to its essence. Over time, expansiveness decreases, while potency increases. I call this method ‘making smaller circles.

Not only we have to be good at waiting, we have to love it. Because waiting is not waiting, it is life.