1. You’ll hear this a lot from athletes and sports enthusiasts, but my greatest learning is to never depend on motivation to hit your goals, because motivation comes and goes. You can feel super energized to do everything but you can also wake up one day and not feel motivated to do anything. You need to have discipline instead. Part of obstacle course racing requires running, which I hate. So during the days that I have to run, I tend to come up with a thousand excuses why I can’t train. But with discipline, I would drag myself to do it and I don’t let my excuses win. I always feel good after when I’ve decided to show up no matter what. So it’s really having a mindset to power through and overcome any little barriers or reasons that you might have for why you can’t do it.

2. Active recovery is equally important as training. It’s actually during recovery that our muscles develop. So it’s important to allow our bodies to rest and recover.

3. Our goals should never be about aesthetic benefits—that should just be a bonus, a result of what we’re doing, or else there’s no fulfillment in what you’re doing and it will not be sustainable.

4. Our bodies go through seasons. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you’ve eaten that cake you’ve always wanted to eat or you’ve gained a few pounds, or you got injured and needed to rest. That’s the beauty with your body. You can always hit reset and start again.

5. Find something you’re interested and don’t be afraid to try. We’re all beginners first and we all start awkwardly.

6. There’s no such thing as “I can’t do it.” It’s all in the mind. But it’s also not magic that it will happen overnight. You have to put in the hard work and need to be patient with the results. —CONTRIBUTED