There’s one thing that’s going to be constant with people who win a lot—they are confident. I mean, not arrogant, but confident. 

And so with that confidence, in order to have true confidence, they’ve had to put in the work. And that’s the stuff that you can’t fake. 

If you put in the work, chances are you’ve sowed that seed, you’re going to be able to reap that harvest. And so as long as it’s not a false confidence, I think that’s a key factor. For me, confidence came from preparation, and that’s the only true confidence in my mind. Everything else is just fake.

When I retired, I found myself still roping “retired” with no plans of going anywhere, still roping more than most people who are building their confidence through practice. It’s hard for me to say ‘Don’t sweat it, you’ll win’ when I know they’re not trying hard enough. 

It sounds so cliché, but I think what everyone calls ‘working at it’ is what I enjoyed; it never felt like work. That was my hobby—it’s what I wanted to do when I had time. I never remember not wanting to do it.

That helps you deal with the intangibles. Rodeo has more variables out of your control than most sports, and that made it easier for me to deal with. It’s all the scenarios I was in all the time. I couldn’t tell if people were mad at situations, or mad at themselves for not being ready for the situation enough. But you can’t fool the guy in the mirror. If I won fifth, I wanted to feel like fifth was all I could do. I think that helped me deal with the losses and the ups and downs better. At some point, if you really are working as hard as you can, especially in the tie-down roping, you get beat, some of that stuff has to be out of your hands. I wasn’t ever like, ‘Oh I should have roped a little more last week.’

—TRJ—