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Develop an appreciation for how hard it is to master your sport.
Mastery is difficult. In fencing you have to master a million skills, put them together in some orderly fashion, develop strategies for different opponents, and learn to do this under pressure. Then you have to start over at every new level of competition. Getting good is hard. Truly knowing this also means that when you do succeed you will enjoy it more. If you ever listen to athletes on TV you notice that the best athletes have a sense of humility about competition. They know that every time they go out there anything can happen. This respect for competition comes usually after losing and getting up and trying again. And when these athletes succeed, you can sense the appreciation even the awe of their performance. On the other hand are those athletes who get frustrated and quit. In my estimation, many of these never appreciated how hard it is to get good. They act defeated and as if they have a lack of self-confidence. They say things like, "I should be farther then I am," and "I can't believe how bad I am." When I hear this I don't hear a lack of confidence, I hear overconfidence. In most cases the reality is you're right where you should be!
Clearly decide where fencing fits in your life and go for it.
This means figure out how important this is to you now, balancing your other interests and responsibilities. This requires looking at the time available, your level of interest and your goals. I primarily see the function of goals as helping you determine how much work your going to do. Once this is done, now get down to work! Establishing priorities helps you get what you want and also helps you to enjoy the journey.
Become coachable.
This is easy for some and almost impossible for others. It requires the belief that you need something, that the other person can offer it, and a willingness to diligently try to master what they have to offer. It seems to me that most fall down in the first category. For many different reasons people have trouble opening themselves up to advice. Be it fear, embarrassment, bad experiences in other learning environments (like school) or overconfidence, opening up to advice and new ideas is hard. Also, know that if you're going to be great, you have to learn to become coachable. At the same time, I don't think being coachable means being blindly following the leader. You have to learn to be discriminating. At times, I am certain that you will have to reject some advice -- and it might not feel easy to do.
Learn to make an honest and rigorous self-evaluation.
This means giving full weight to both the positive and the negative aspects of your game, your training program, and your competitive demeanor. If you don't appreciate your strengths, two things might happen. One, you'll get depressed and discouraged. And two, even more dangerous, you might throw away what you do best. Another trap here is that sometimes what seems to be a weakness is really a strength. For example, if your best move is your counterattack -- it may not mean that it's time to start over. It may only mean that you need to figure out a better way to set up your counterattack. On the other hand, it's also important to be able to look at your weaknesses openly and honestly. If you don't you're doomed. Saying after every loss "I choked" isn't going to get you anywhere.
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