I think most everyone has at one point in their life, while reflecting on choices they have made, end up thinking, “If I knew then what I know now things would be different.” While it is tempting to look back and think about how you could have used that knowledge that you had to work and struggle for in a situation in your past, it is better to look at that knowledge that you have gained and apply in to your real time circumstances. Because the reality of it is that people are creatures of habits, and we tend to go through cycles where we end up doing the same things. Whether for right or for wrong, we tend to repeat what it is that we do over and over again. So the key to success lies in applying what we know or what we have learned to what it is we are working on today.

This is really easy to apply to something like wrestling because while competing you end up in a lot of the same positions over and over again. One of the techniques that I really like in Greco roman wrestling is the straight lift. It involves locking your opponent by the waist, lifting them off of the mat, and throwing them through the air. Depending on the amplitude of the throw, you will be awarded 1, 3, or 5 points for the throw that you execute. The initial lift is, in my opinion, the easiest part of the technique. The hard part is finishing the throw and scoring points. During the execution of this move, there is a split second where you have to re-cinch your lock in order to catch your opponents hip that will enable you to turn him during the throw. If you miss the hip, or if you don’t readjust, the move can end badly with your opponent landing on top of you.

When I was first learning the move as a youth, there were times when I tried to lift and throw but was unsuccessful because I didn’t know the importance of re-cinching my lock. As a result, I had some bad throws, and I either didn’t receive any points for my attempt or I ended up losing points. However, after someone showed me how to re-cinch my lock, I was able to do a much better job of getting the results that I wanted. This circumstance is an example of when I am sure that I thought to myself, “If I only knew then what I know now.” However, fast forward several years to the Olympic trials. I am in a position where I need to score to win the match, and there is a lot that is riding on executing this one move successfully. I start my lift, pull the hip, and try to finish. I don’t have the hip caught, and we end up falling back to the mat with no points scored. I lose the match, end up crying out there like a big baby, and I missed out on the Olympics that go around. I didn’t have the crutch of saying, “I didn’t know.” because I did. I just didn’t execute. The same position that I was in years before had come back into my life, and unfortunately I didn’t apply what I had already learned.

Well we all end up in the same positions from previously in our lives. The challenge is in doing what we know we should do. There are generally two types of regret that I am familiar with. One is the regret of action and the other is the regret of inaction. However, neither type of regret can change the past, and it is pointless to dwell on what could have been. You can’t change the past no matter how hard you try, but lucky for us we can shape today and hope for a better future. So there’s our challenge, the challenge to use what we have learned to live our lives today in a way that we won’t regret them in the future. It is a daunting task, but when given the choice between living a life full of purpose and joy or a life full of misery and regret, which one would you choose?