One of the most important skills you can learn is how to reset your mind. Things do not go your way one hundred percent of the time. Things go wrong, often. People cut you off in traffic. Plans change at the last minute. Meetings get canceled. Funding doesn’t come through. People break their word. The unexpected and unexplained are common parts of life.

You can go on, and on, and on listing things that go wrong in life. Things go wrong on varying levels. Some are small things, and others are bigger issues.

Your ability to re-frame things within your own mind is a must if you want to succeed. You have to be in control of how you think and where your mind goes, especially when things go south.

It’s a skill you must master.

You’re on the hunt for excellence. You’re chasing down that big elusive goal of becoming the very best version of you. You’re playing the long game. A game with no end in sight. It only concludes when you shuffle off this mortal coil.

Since the game you’re playing doesn’t have an endpoint, it doesn’t allow failure as an option. Failure flat out doesn’t exist on this road.

Two options are open to you. You either win or you learn.

Re-frame everything in your life as an opportunity for one of these two options.

You know what to do with winning. That’s the easy part.

Seeing everything as an opportunity to learn takes effort. You have to work hard to reorient your mind to see things in this new light.

Re-framing your experiences injects perspective into your life. It helps you take a step back and consider the long-term outcome of any given circumstance. If it won’t impact your life five years from now, why let it bother you today?

You can do this with everything in your life, even the worst of circumstances. In fact, it's most important when things don’t go well.

Jocko Willink sets the best example of this mental re-framing in the video below. A single word summarizes his encouragement. That word is GOOD. Meaning you can find your way to the good in everything. Good is the ultimate in seeing obstacles as opportunities. It's exactly the right way to re-frame negative thoughts.

Paul’s admonishes believers to take, “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5). And that's exactly the type of re-framing we're talking about.

It may be a mental game, but it's one you’ve got to win. It unlocks a door to navigating the storms of life and reminds you of the power you have to shape your life.