Back when I used to fight competitively, I discovered that I rarely went into the ring with more determination than my opponent. “Hey,” I’d think, “it’s just a sport.”

Then I’d get punched in the face. And all of a sudden, I’d start to get serious.

Sometimes, I’d break a tooth, or fracture a knuckle. And it was in those moments that I’d think to myself, “one of us is leaving here in an ambulance, and it isn’t going to be me.”

Vince Lombardi observed that it’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up. But, in my experience, the truth is a step further yet: if you get knocked down, make sure you get back up twice as determined, twice as sure of what you need to do, than you were before.

As Bruce Lee advised, “forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life.”