You must be in control or have autonomy, to set goals, move through intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, and grittily, hardily, toughly keep on track — especially if your choice is to be or continue being a successful high-performance athlete.

This is where we find the relationship between hope and two other concepts that are directly important to sports performance and powerlifting in particular: motivation and risk.

Success and self-control are twisted together tighter than two strands of DNA.