Those questions race through your mind like a car careening out of control. In the meantime, your coach and teammates offer consolation as you slump yourself down in frustration at the end of the bench.

Well, let's just suppose that there was nothing wrong with your preparation . You trained has hard as you have always had in the past. Let's also suppose that you didn't take your opponent lightly; you've always known that anyone can beat you at any given time. Lastly, let's suppose that there was nothing wrong with your strategy or your execution; your opponent just flat out won.

So what do you do now?

Maybe it's time to look at your work ethic. Sure, you were prepared, but guess what? So was the other guy and what many of us fail to realize is that as the level of competition increases, so does the level of preparation and ultimately (which is the whole point of this article) so does the work ethic of our opponents!

I think many people confuse the word "preparation" with the term "work ethic." They are not the same, contrary to their similarities in meaning. You "prepare" for something you specifically want to do in life, like, in this instance, training for a big competition. However, your "work ethic" should be a way of life. It's what you eat, when and how long you sleep, and, most importantly, how you train on a daily basis, regardless of the importance of the competition.

Your work ethic is what makes you a champion.

For example, in the aforementioned case, the athlete who trained as hard as he always had before and his technique and execution were always had before and his technique and execution were flawless. Yet still lost to someone who was seeded below him. In essence, there was nothing wrong with his preparation. After all, up until that point in his career, it had gotten him to where he was, a high ranking in that particular event.

So why did he lose? Why was he starting to lose with alarming regularity?

Throughout my career, I've known very talented athletes who trained extremely hard. The problem was that many of them trained hard only when it was necessary, such as for an important meet or tournament. Subsequently, they would lose (or began to lose) matches that they probably should've won.

There was a time in my career when I wanted to quit because I wasn't having much success at the Olympic level. I. too, asked myself those very same questions. In response, I recognized that I was losing a lot of matches late in the contest. When I decided to change my work ethic and then incorporated it as part of my every day lifestyle, I began to turn the tide and win on a regular basis again.

There weren't any secrets (or shortcuts) to my success. I simply trained hard every day. That meant my regular coupled with an additional workout while exhausted from my usual routine. It also meant doing it every day, not only on days when I felt good and my energy level was high. It meant discipline in changing my lifestyle until it had become second nature.

I used to run four miles a day as a conditioner. Then I added ten 50 - yard hill sprints immediately after my run, pretending it was the last two minutes of a match. Then, after wrestling practice, I'd perform a series of drills consisting of 20 takedowns, standups, and pinning combinations each as well as 60 extra moves, all as fast as I could. Talk about exhaustion!

However, these efforts, coupled with proper nutrition and rest, improved my endurance, my technique, and my overall conditioning. It also taught me how to work through the fatigue which has been costing me victories in my matches.

Not surprisingly, I began winning again where I had previously lost. Soon it was I that was beating the more talented wrestlers in the last few minutes, watching them sulk at the end of their benches, looking over at me and wondering how they could lose to a lower seed.

Remember, talent is only talent if you know how to use it. A good strong work ethic helps bring your talent to the forefront, which could enable you to beat those higher seeds the next time around.

And there is only one way to find out! DO IT!