I know for me, even when I’m at my best mental game, there’s a small moment of let down as a result, and then I have to work really hard to undo that moment. At my worst, that one comment, that one piece of noise could derail my whole day. It could shake my confidence in myself and my team, bringing up that ever present subtext “You’re not good enough” that I’ve tried so hard to dispel.

“I’m not just here for today”. What I mean by that is that I’m on a journey to be the best Agility handler in the world, and I know each day, each moment, each course, each skill, each challenge is a step I need to take on the road to becoming the best. It’s all a learning opportunity, and whether I am “successful” or whether I “fail” in that instance is irrelevant; it’s a lesson I need to learn to get where I’m going.

It’s funny how a thought can generate an emotion. What if instead of reacting to our thoughts, we re-engineered the picture? What if we decided how we want to feel, then figured out the thoughts that would create that feeling?

how can we ensure that we achieve a 95% successful rate? How do we keep our training sessions short and efficient, and keep our dogs happy and engaged? We need a model to help break our exercises down into their component pieces, which leads me to the complexity triad.