Are you practicing failure? (You may not realize it.)

What if I told you that you might be practicing failure just as much—if not more—than success?

It sounds wild, but it happens all the time. Without realizing it, we reinforce habits, thoughts, and training patterns that make failure more likely. And because the brain is so good at repeating what we focus on, we can accidentally train ourselves into a failure loop.

The good news? Once you recognize where it’s happening, you can start flipping the script.

The sneaky ways handlers practice failure

Overthinking and overanalyzing

Have you ever watched your trial videos and only focused on the one mistake you made instead of everything that went well? Or maybe you get stuck in your head trying to plan for every possible scenario instead of trusting your training?

Overthinking takes you out of the moment and makes it harder to perform at your best. When we analyze things to death, we practice hesitation—not confidence.

Rehearsing disaster scenarios

“What if my dog misses the weave entry?” “What if I forget the course?” “What if we totally bomb?”

Sound familiar? When you mentally run through worst-case scenarios, you’re actually training your brain to expect them. Your subconscious doesn’t know the difference between an imagined failure and a real one—so if you keep picturing mistakes, your brain will start preparing for them.

Focusing more on what’s wrong than what’s right

Handlers love to nitpick. It’s part of how we improve, but if we’re not careful, we end up reinforcing failure instead of success.

If you leave the ring and only talk about what went wrong, guess what your brain holds onto? The mistakes.

If you only reward your dog when things are perfect, guess what they learn? That training is frustrating.

Reinforcement matters—what you focus on grows.

Unintentional negative reinforcement in training

Have you ever hesitated to push for speed or try something new because you were afraid of making a mistake? Or maybe you played it safe in training instead of working through a challenge?

When we avoid certain situations to prevent failure, we’re actually reinforcing fear—not progress.

Letting past failures define future runs

One bad run, one tough weekend, or even one rough season does not determine what happens next. But if you let it shape your expectations, it will.

If you walk to the line thinking, “I always mess up at big events,” your brain will do its best to prove you right.

How to break the cycle and start practicing success

Reframe your inner dialogue

Instead of asking, “What if this goes wrong?” start asking, “What if this goes right?” The brain loves to answer questions—so give it better ones.

Balance your mental playback

If you review a mistake, follow it up by replaying a time when you nailed it. You don’t want to erase mistakes, but you do want to make sure you’re reinforcing success just as much.

Practice confidence, not just skills

It’s easy to focus on training drills and handling skills, but what about mental skills? Confidence, resilience, and handling pressure are trainable—and they make all the difference in how you perform.

Give yourself permission to succeed

Catch yourself when you’re holding back and make a different choice. Decide to run with confidence. Choose to go all in. Let yourself believe in your own success.

Ready to break the cycle?

Success isn’t just about what you do physically—it’s about what you reinforce mentally. If you’re ready to shift your mindset and start practicing success, check out my 1:1 coaching or my membership program for ongoing support.

You don’t have to tackle this alone. Let’s break the failure cycle together.