Athletes since Epictetus’ time have developed a trick we can borrow: they turn hardship into opportunity by looking for the lessons within a failure.

When you lose your temper with someone who is rude, or unkind, do not think of them as an enemy. Think of them as a training partner in the character gym. They will push you, test your limits, and show you where you need to improve. If we can approach such situations as athletes would, we can learn to be grateful for difficulties and opportunities to fail. They show us where we can improve and give us the chance to practise what we have learnt. This way of reframing challenges and failures as opportunities is crucial for the resiliency required to practise self-improvement.