“Just another cold, dark night on the side of Everest is a way to remember the paradox of stress. The most meaningful challenges in your life will come with a few dark nights.” - Kelly McGonigal, The Upside of Stress.

To learn resilience, children must be exposed to hardship. If they don’t meet hardship early, they’ll certainly find it later. And if they haven’t built a habit of resilience and earn some self-respect by then, the adult pain they meet probably won’t strengthen them. It will likely overwhelm them.

One race, four new records. In total, 13 men ran personal bests that evening in the 10,000 meters, and all can tell the story of how they ran in one of the fastest and best 10,000 meter races in the history of track. That night, 13 men got to say, “I am a winner“.

Ultimately we need to know that life is a precious gift. We’re blessed with an opportunity to see just how good we can be at something we love doing. We get to have a ball for many years seeing how many wonderful things we can do with our lives. We may or may not win the external prizes, but when we live like that, we win the ultimate prize: peace of mind. - Bob Rotella, How Champions Think

“Your brain is your software, your body the hardware. Simply put, your body does what your brain tells it to do or what your brain thinks your body is capable of doing.” - Dr. Stan Beecham, Elite Minds

“How many people have put off the necessary, unglamorous work of building habits because they spend their lives waiting for a sign, an epiphany that never comes? Don’t wait. Don’t wait a single day. Live.” - Eric Greitens, Resilience

“We all love a good cowboy movie, and we always cheer when the underdog defeats the perennial powerhouse. But the good guy gets there only because they had a team helping them every step of the way.”

The best team doesn’t always win. The team that plays best always wins. Even the All-Star has a bad night, and the nobody can become a Somebody.

You’ll ask yourself how you got so mentally weak. Admitting the problem is the first step to recovery. Identify your problem, rebuild your strength, hone your killer instinct, and head back into the arena. Get out of your head. Keep going forward, keep climbing. There are more things for you to do. The message is clear the only way you can fail is to give up.

“You can’t follow someone else’s path and get there. There is no checklist for success - no map, no GPS, no guarantees, nothing. You have to cut your own path in the woods. Fear is the thing that will keep you from doing it. Just go. Fear not. And get yourself lost in your pursuit of success.” - Dr. Stan Beecham, Elite Minds.