Being at the pinnacle in other people’s eyes has nothing to do with quality of life

Tap into your mind’s potential via complete immersion into one and all activities

Your growth is without barriers

Pure concentration doesn’t allow thoughts or false constructions to impede awareness

Love the study and training above all else

A good teacher is more of a guide than an authority. They lead a discussion rather than a lecture. They ask questions. They ask to explain their thought process. Are there other ways of doing things? Did you consider a different order of operations? They don’t patronize

Be able learning and passion first, and competition a distant second

Confidence is critical for a great competitor, but overconfidence is brittle

One of the problems with being too high is that there is a long way to fall

Little breaks from the competitive intensity of life are an integral part of success

Let your conscious mind move away from your training and to gain create new angles on the next steps of growth

Living on the water requires constant presence, and the release of control. The only way to survive is to sink into rhythm with the waves and be ready for anything

All situations can be handled as long as presence of mind is maintained

If you lose your calm when crisis hits, there is no safety net to catch you

Follow your heart even when it leads you far away or to seemingly bizarre pursuits

Respond to heartbreak with hard work

Glory is a powerful incentive

Step by step, incrementally, the novice can become the master

Give feedback that is process-oriented rather than result-oriented

We can always evolve in our approaches to learning

The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process, and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity

Growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety

Successful people shoot for the stars, put their hearts on the line in every battle, and ultimately discover that the lessons learned from the pursuit of excellence mean much more than the immediate trophies and glory. 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 are the ones who make it down the road. They are also the ones who are happier along the way. The real challenge is to stay in range of this long-term perspective when you are under fire and hurting in the middle of the war

Revel in apparent chaos

Be a free-flowing performer, unblocked by psychological issues and hungering for creative leaps

One of the most critical strengths of a superior competitor in any discipline is the ability to dictate the tone of the battle

Many people in diverse fields take some version of the process first philosophy and transform it into an excuse for never putting themselves on the line or pretending not to care about results. They claim to be egoless, to care only about learning, but really this is an excuse to avoid confronting themselves

While a fixation on results is certainly unhealthy, short-term goals can be useful developmental tools if they are balanced within a nurturing long-term philosophy

The only way to learn how to swim is by getting in the water

There is nothing like a worthy opponent to show us our weaknesses and push us to our limit

Help internalize a process-first approach by making everyday feedback respond to effort over results

Praise good concentration, a good day's work, a lesson learned

When we have worked hard and succeed at something, we should be allowed to smell the roses

The key is to recognize that the beauty of the roses lies in their transience. It is drifting away even as we inhale

We enjoy the win fully while taking a deep breath, then we exhale, not the lesson learned, and move on to the next adventure

With a loss, empathy is a good place to start, tell them you are proud of them, that it is okay to be sad. Disappointment is a part of the road to greatness

Introspective thinking about psychology can be a healthy coping mechanism. Did you lose your concentration? Did you fall into a downward spiral? Were you overconfident? Impatient? Tired?

Every loss is an opportunity for growth

A heartfelt, empathetically present, incrementally inspiring mom or dad or coach can liberate an ambitious child to take the world by the horns

We need to put ourselves out there, give it our all, and reap the lesson, win or lose

There will be nothing learned from any challenge in which we don't try our hardest

Growth comes at the point of resistance

We learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities

The Soft Zone is resilient, like a flexible blade of grass that can move with and survive hurricane-force winds. You are quietly, intensely, focused, apparently relaxed with a serene look on your face, but inside all the mental juices are churning. You flow with whatever comes, integrating every ripple of life into your creative moment

If you are tense, with your fingers jammed in your ears and your whole body straining to fight off distraction then you are in a Hard Zone that demands a cooperative world for you to function. Like a dry twig, you are brittle, ready to snap under pressure

The Soft Zone does not base success on a submissive world or overpowering force, but on intelligent preparation and cultivated resilience

You can't count on the world being silent, so your only option is to become at peace with the noise

Mental resilience is arguably the most critical trait of a world-class performer, and it should be nurtured continuously

When uncomfortable, your instinct should be not to avoid the discomfort but to become at peace with it

Seek out challenges as opposed to avoiding them

It is important to regain presence and clarity of mind after making a serious error. The first mistake rarely proves disastrous, but the downward spiral of the second, third, and fourth error creates a devastating chain reaction

A life of ambition is like existing on a balance beam. As a child, there is no fear, no sense for the danger of falling. The beam feels wide and stable, and natural playfulness allows for creative leaps and fast learning. You can run around doing somersaults and flips, always testing yourself with a love for discovery and new challenges. If you happen to fall off—no problem, you just get back on. But then, as you get older, you become more aware of the risk of injury. The beam is narrow and you have to stay up there. Plunging off would be humiliatinng

While a child can make the beam a playground, high stress performers often transform the beam into a tightrope. Any slip becomes a crisis

A key component of high-level learning is cultivating a resilient awareness that is the older, conscious embodiment of a child's playful obiviousness

Create like a child under world championship pressure

One of the most critical factors in the transition to becoming a conscious high performer is the degree to which your relationship to your pursuit stays in harmony with your unique disposition. There will inevitably be times when we need to try new ideas, release our current knowledge to take in new information—but it is critical to integrate this new information in a manner than does not violate who we are

Sickness is the most potent ambassador for healthy living

The human mind defines things in relation to one another—without light the notion of darkness would be unintelligible

If we feed the unconscious, it will discover connections between what may appear to be disparate realities

The path to artistic insight in one direction often involves deep study of another

Just as the yin-yang symbol possesses a kernel of light in the dark, and of dark in the light, creative leaps are grounded in a technical foundation

There is a careful balance of pushing yourself relentlessly, but not so hard that you melt down. Muscles and minds need to stretch to grow, but if stretched too thin, they will snap

A competitor needs to be process-oriented, always looking for stronger opponents to spur growth, but it is also important to keep on winning enough to maintain confidence

We have to release our current ideas to soak in new material, but not so much that we lose touch with our unique natural talents

Your head should float as though it were suspended by a string from the crown point

If I can do it, you can do it

If you are ready, you will learn

Breathing should be a return to what was natural before we got stressed out by years of running around a hectic world and internalizing bad habits

Investment in loss is giving yourself to the learning process

Depth over breadth

The learning principle is to plunge into the detailed mystery of the micro in order to understand what makes the macro tick

3 critical steps in a resilient performer's evolving relationship to chaotic situations

Learn to be at peace with imperfection

In our training, use imperfection to our advantage

For performance psychology, learn to create ripples in our consciousness so we are constantly inspired whether or not external conditions are inspiring

There are times when the body needs to heal, but those are ripe opportunities to deepen the mental, technical, internal side of my game

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

Everyone at a high level has a huge amount of understanding, and much of what separates the great from the very good is deep presence, relaxation of the conscious mind, which allows the unconscious to flow unhindered

As with all skills, the most sophisticated techniques tend to have their foundation in the simplest of principles

In every discipline, the ability to be clearheaded, present, cool under fire is much of what separates the best from the mediocre

We cannot expect to touch excellence if 'going through the motions' is the norm of our lives

Players who are able to relax in brief moments of inactivity are almost always the ones who end up coming through when the game is on the line

Fueling up is much more important than last-minute cramming

An appreciation for simplicity, the everyday—the ability to dive deeply into the banal and discover life's hidden richness—is where success, let alone happiness, emerges

To have success in crunch time, you need to integrate certain healthy patterns into your day-to-day life so that they are completely natural to you when the pressure is on

The real power of incremental growth comes to bear when we truly are like water, steadily carving stone. We just keep on flowing when everything is on the line

Only you know your body. Always be prepared for exertion by being nourished, but never have too full a stomach and thereby dull your senses

To walk a thorny road, we may cover its every inch with leather or we can make sandals

When our emotions overwhelm us, we can get sloppy

Creativity is always in relation to a foundation

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

Prepare in a manner that allows for inspiration. Lay the foundation for us to create under the wildest pressures we ever imagine

Mastery involves discovering the most resonant information and integrating it so deeply and fully it disappears and allows us to fly free