“Failure is just feedback on the way to success.” -Carlos Correa Every rep, every loss, every missed opportunity is information. It’s not a judgment of who you are, it’s insight into who you can become. Each challenge exposes the next lesson, and every failure reveals a piece of the puzzle that leads toward growth. The best athletes, leaders, and creators aren’t defined by their wins alone. They’re defined by how they respond when things don’t go their way. They slow down, reflect, and study what happened. They look deeper instead of looking away. When you start to see failure as feedback, the entire process changes. You stop taking it personally and start taking it as a gift. You learn faster. You adjust more clearly. You evolve into something greater than you were before. Failure isn’t the end. It’s the invitation to begin again, this time with more understanding, more discipline, and more perspective.

Every pitch, rep, and decision long before the lights come on is what defines an athlete. Game day doesn’t build you, it exposes what you’ve built. It’s not about the highlight reel, social media posts or public affirmations. It’s about the daily choices no one sees: the recovery, the mindset, the accountability, and the consistency that separates the good from the great. Preparation doesn’t guarantee victory. But it guarantees you’ll be ready when the moment arrives.

One of the most challenging areas of high achievement is remembering that success is like a brick house…it is built one brick at a time, one layer at a time. The work you put in each day is one more brick of growth that leads to your future success but only if you stack that brick today.

This video from Greg Rose couldn’t be more true. It is such good advice to players of all ages and not just in your skill work. In business we think of ROI (short term and long term) as the primary driver of our decisions. This has to be the main focus on the field, in the weight room, at the dinner table, getting into bed, etc. I often times define this to our professional, college and youth athletes as “work ethic>hard work.” Hard work is the action of putting forth effort, while work ethic is the application of hard work toward underlying principle or set of moral values that drives an individual to work diligently, responsibly, and with integrity. A strong work ethic includes traits like reliability, punctuality. dedication, focus, etc which combine with hard work to achieve goals.

Protein is the athlete’s repair crew and growth fuel. Every sprint, lift, or swing breaks down muscle fibers, and protein supplies the amino acids that rebuild them stronger. It drives muscle protein synthesis, balances hormones, supports the immune system, and even keeps your brain sharp under fatigue. For athletes, protein does four critical jobs: it repairs damaged tissue, builds new muscle, speeds recovery, and protects overall health. Without enough, training gains stall, recovery slows, and the risk of injury rises. With it, your body adapts faster, bounces back quicker, and performs at its peak.