How to Get Better
Every Day

Getting better was never about avoiding mistakes — it’s about how fast you course-correct. I learned that flat on my back, staring at a hospital ceiling, as a teenager.

The day the lake changed everything

Growing up in Nebraska, one of my favorite things was going out on the lake. One Memorial Day weekend, a friend’s uncle took us out and asked if anyone wanted to go tubing. I hesitated — something about how packed the water was that day made me pause — but I didn’t want to be the only one saying no, so I climbed on. A few minutes in, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. A jet ski was coming straight at me. There was no time to react. It hit me head-on and I ended up with a fractured vertebra, lying there wondering if I’d just changed my life in a way I couldn’t undo.

The story you tell has more power than the event

When something goes wrong, your mind doesn’t stay quiet. It builds a story about what happened — and that story usually has more power over your future than the event itself. I could have stayed stuck in that moment, replaying it, carrying it far longer than it needed to be carried. But at some point I realized replaying it didn’t change a thing. It only extended my stay there. You can’t move forward while you’re staring backward. Reflection asks, “What can I learn from this?” Reliving asks, “Why did this happen to me?” One creates growth. The other creates stagnation.

Getting better isn’t about never drifting

Think of driving down the highway. The goal isn’t to keep the car perfectly centered every second — that’s impossible. That’s why guardrails exist: not because engineers expect perfect driving, but because they know nobody drives perfectly. Most people don’t end up in the ditch because of one decision. They drift a little further off course each day without noticing. Successful people aren’t more disciplined — they just course-correct faster. Miss a workout? That doesn’t mean you failed; it means you’re back in the gym tomorrow.