Over the years, I’ve gotten better and better at returning from mental and physical exhaustion…The fighter who can recover in the thirty seconds betw… - Joshua Waitzkin

In performance training, first we learn to flow with whatever comes. Then we learn to use whatever comes to our advantage. Finally, we learn to be completely self-sufficient and create our own earthquakes, so our mental process feeds itself explosive inspirations without the need for outside stimulus.

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.

If I have learned anything over my first twenty-nine years, it is that we cannot calculate our important contests, adventures, and great loves to the end. The only thing we can really count on is getting surprised. No matter how much preparation we do, in the real tests of our lives, we’ll be in unfamiliar terrain. Conditions might not be calm or reasonable. It may feel as though the whole world is stacked against us. This is when we have to perform better than we ever conceived of performing. I believe the key is to have prepared in a manner that allows for inspiration, to have laid the foundation for us to create under the wildest pressures we ever imagined. It