Failure is both the problem and the solution. My research with 200+ Team USA Olympians and Paralympians is revealing the surpising reason why.

Thirty seconds of scrolling and it feels like everyone is ahead of you. Olympic snowboarder Bea Kim knows the feeling, and she's been tuning it out since she was six. Here's the mindset that took her from falling leaf on the bunny hill to the Olympic halfpipe, and how you can use it to stop comparing and start trusting your own run.

From lecture halls at Harvard that look straight out of Hogwarts, to the 3-meter springboard at the NCAA Division I Championships, to interviewing more than 200 Team USA athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, I've spent most of my life in pressure-cooker environments that glorify achievement. The goal-setting framework I'm about to share is the one I've relied on to succeed in each of those scenarios. If you're a high achiever like me, the next three steps are for you.

From her from her first pair of skis at age two to Team USA's 2026 Olympic roster at age fifteen, Abby Winterberger reached the pinnacle of sport faster than she ever imagined possible. Behind every step was a coach who's believed in her, a family that supports her, and a simple conviction: if other people could do it, so could she.

Brandon Kim trains just 5-7 hours a week as a full-time Stanford student. He made his Olympic debut at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. His secret comes down to a mindset shift most athletes never find: he stopped needing to win. By refusing to let his identity ride on the outcome, Kim unlocked a fearless, pressure-free way to compete and proved that trusting a lifetime of preparation can take you further than obsession ever will.