I am a very lucky man. Early on in my wrestling career, I was fortunate enough to be blessed with some great coaches. Each one seemed to be able to add a useful element that would help me to grow and improve in the sport. One of these coaches was Mark Fuller, a four time Olympic team member in the sport of greco roman wrestling. At the time, I didn’t realize how fortunate I was to be able to work with a wrestler of his caliber that had traveled the world and competed at the very highest level of wrestling. I was just a kid, and I was new to the sport. You could say I was ignorant. During the time that I trained under Mark, I was able to learn a lot about wrestling as well as win some more wrestling matches. I was even fortunate to go on some of my first international wrestling competitions under his coaching. After I graduated high school, however, I moved away to college, and we lost touch.

Years passed, and while sitting in a church service in Orem, Utah, I was fortunate enough to bump into Mark again. We caught up with each other and set up an appointment to meet and talk about my training. I am glad that I was fortunate enough to meet up with Mark and spend some time talking with him. It is always nice to get some new input as well as remember a few of the things that helped you to get you to where you are at. Anyway I feel like I received a shot of adrenaline into my wrestling career. We have kept in touch, and he has provided me with some useful suggestions.

One of these suggestions was to read the book Mind Set by Dweck. This book has been one of the best books that I have ever read that not only relates to wrestling or sports, but it relates to everything. I know that through the years that I have spent as an athlete, I have heard coaches preach about the importance of mental toughness. Sure you have to be tough. Sure you have to have a strong mental game, but the way Dweck has been able to describe a pair of mind sets that people tend to have, it has really made me evaluate how I think about things.

When you don’t reach your goals, do you see it as a failure, or do you see it as a chance to learn something? How you look at the instances when you don’t succeed the way you set out to can have a huge impact on your future performance. If you get caught up in the “fixed” mindset, you are likely to see your failure as the type of person who can’t succeed. You base your utility on that one single performance. However, if you have the “growth” mindset, you will look at the failure as an opportunity to learn and get better. The book goes into greater detail about these two mind sets, but it is definitely thought provoking. Do you fail or do you learn? The choice is really up to all of us.

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