All of us experience setbacks from time to time.

Rejection from prospects. Criticism from a client or boss. Illness or injury at the worst time imaginable. Cancellation of a project. Maybe even failure.

When several setbacks happen at once, though, or in quick succession, it can start to grind you down. It can feel like the world is against you.

Here’s the thing, though:

If we’re completely honest with ourselves, it’s not the setbacks themselves that wear away at our mojo, at our confidence, at our motivation. It’s the way these setbacks make us feel — the meaning that we give to them.

Consciously or unconsciously.

My job, now that I’m a part of your life, is to help you become sharper. At whatever it is you decided to make your calling. To help you become a knife that cuts through any obstacle that stands in your way. As if it were butter.

It all starts with a simple choice.

Choose to make your mind, your spirit, a blade of steel.

Make that choice right now. Say to yourself, even if only in the secrecy of your own heart: “Dr. Steve, I’ve decided to make my mind and my spirit a blade of steel.”

Because when you make this choice, hardship — i.e. setbacks, rejection, criticism, even failure — instead of being something that grinds you down and chips away at your mojo, it becomes something that makes you sharper.

When a prospect tells you to get lost and slams the phone down, you’ll smile, knowing you’re now one phone call closer to your next commission check.

When you launch a new product and it tanks, you’ll smile, knowing you’ve just learned something valuable about your market and its true desires.

You may even find yourself being thankful for life’s curveballs, and start seeing them as blessings. Because each one makes you stronger.

Isn’t that a more empowering way to look at things?