When someone comes to my facility to pick up their horse after it has been training, I see a common fear: “will I screw it up?”

While your horse is not returned to you as a programmed computer, it is also not going to flip a switch and go right back to where you started. The purpose of having a horse in a training program that develops fundamentals is to get that horse in the habit of using the thinking side of it’s brain.

When a horse switches riders, it goes through a transition period where it has to learn and recognize your unique style of communication. If the horse has a solid foundation, eventually, it will find the right answer.

Foundation is extremely important, especially in performance events that require speed. Speed is a reactive characteristic. When you ask a horse for more speed, you are essentially asking for a reactive response. Horses with a strong foundation will have enough confidence in themselves to switch back and forth from the thinking/reacting sides of their brain to perform correctly.

As with a horse’s foundation, your foundation as a trainer is equally important. The biggest challenge in your training career comes from your own thought process. You have to have strong foundational philosophies before you can make a positive change in your training program. One of the biggest mindset shifts you must make is changing the way you look at failure.

Everyone will go through a phase where they are afraid to mess something up. Once you reach a pinnacle in your performance, you might be afraid to continue pushing boundaries in fear of going backwards or falling off the cliff. But, if you want to continue to perform at that high level, you can’t be afraid to make mistakes. You cannot start each day with the fear of messing up.

The fear of failure has a paralyzing effect on us. If you dwell on it long enough, you will miss the opportunities that are right in front of you. Sometimes, you have to flip the switch in your brain so that you can get out of your own way.

It’s like taking a test in school. You are better off to take a guess and write something down—even if you’re not sure it’s the right answer—than to leave the question blank. If you leave it blank and do nothing, you guarantee that it will be counted wrong. But, if you take your best guess, you give yourself the opportunity to figure out what the right answer is and learn from it. A wrong answer is better than no answer because you have successfully eliminated one way that doesn’t work.

You have to approach training with the mindset that challenges are learning opportunities, not failures. And, trust me, there will be some intense learning moments along the way. But, you are better off to try and fail than to not try at all. Getting the wrong answer is not a failure, it’s an accomplishment. Don’t let the fear of messing up keep you from moving forward. Any bad habit you create is fixable. Always keep moving forward. If you don’t know what to do, the first thing you need to do is do something. Action creates clarity.