I learned this phrase from an Olympic athlete, long-retired but so impressive in his mental approach. He was actually a relay runner who had dropped a baton in the final, so they only got silver. His honesty impressed me. Apparently there had been no blame. The team focused only on what they could control, and that included the mood of the team.

It sounds so obvious. Control the controllables. But it was a lesson that's stayed with me for a long time.

If you divide a piece of paper in half, and write down the left hand side all the things on your mind, things that are bothering you or that might affect your performance. It could be life or work.

Then run down the list and draw an arrow across to the right hand side for each thing, and write down what you can control about it, if anything. If you can’t, then you can forget about it.

I found this so empowering! Some of the simplest habits in life seem to be the most powerful.

Control the controllables.

This athlete also talked about how they managed the press and media attention. For athletes this can be a lot of noise, and noise affects performance. It affects mental performance, and this affects physical performance. The nuances and intricacies of performance are what make athletics so gripping.

He and his team had come home with a silver medal. But they returned with pride, pride in the team, pride in their process, in their achievement.

They returned with the conviction that they had done everything they could, and controlled everything they could control.

That’s sport - you can only control the process, not the result. Control the controllables. And a silver medal was something to be very, very proud of.