24-Hour Rule for Athletes
It can be incredibly difficult to deal with the emotional rollercoaster that comes with being an athlete. No matter what level, sport, or age, if you participate long enough, you’ll experience the emotional highs and lows that come with athletics. Today, I want to offer a strategy for how to deal with those highs and lows. It’s called the 24-Hour Rule and it’s a gamechanger to promote perspective, resilience, humility, and consistency.
I learned this rule from coaches and teammates in college, and it goes like this; whether you have a huge success, or a crushing failure, give yourself 24 hours to feel all the emotions that come with that respective result, and then get back to work. Let’s look at how this can apply to you.
If you are like me, then you know what it’s like to have a bad race, miss some wide-open shots, turn the ball over, make a critical mistake, drop out of a workout early, and even get subbed out of a game for poor performance. If you experience any of these events and the doubt, frustration, sadness, and negative emotions that come with them, then the 24-hour is a remedy I recommend you try.
The 24-hour rule doesn’t encourage you to ignore the failures and negative emotions that come with it, but rather to lean into them, but only for one day. No bad game is life defining, and no poor workout is season ending. The 24-hour rule encourages reflection, and demands resilience. It puts a deadline on doubt and a timeline on turbulent thoughts. If you work really hard for something, and the result doesn’t go your way it’s normal to feel frustrated. Apply the 24-hour rule to not let yesterday’s past affect tomorrow’s future.
An applicable example of this in athletics is Sebastian Coe (pictured wearing number 254) from the 1980 Olympics. He was a heavy favorite to win the 800 meter gold medal, as he was the world record holder in the event at the time. Shockingly, he finished second to his rival, and British teammate, Steve Ovett in a race he described as “the worst of his life.” However, in a display of mental toughness and resiliency Coe channeled his frustration and extreme disappointment back to the track and six days later won the gold medal in the 1500 meters (beating out Steve Ovett as well). It wasn’t extra fitness or months of training that made the difference — he only had 6 days in between each final and in those 6 days had to race twice to even qualify for the final — it was his resiliency and ability to move on from defeat.
The rule doesn’t stop here.
If you are like me, then you have also experienced the highs of game winning goals, sprinting past opponents in the homestretch of a race, buzzer-beater shots, and breakthrough performances. If you have experienced any of these events, you know the feelings of elation, enthusiasm, satisfaction and pride that accompany them. Unfortunately, those feelings don’t last and complacency can creep in if you’re not careful. That’s where the 24-hour rule can help.
The 24-hour rule doesn’t discourage celebrating your victories or feeling the positive emotions that come from the fruits of your labor. Instead, it reminds us to reward positive results by reinforcing the habits that built them. It humbles us to feel the pride of achievement while being conscious that complacency is the enemy. Applying the 24-hour rule increases fulfillment, focus, humility and reflection, all of which combat the “come down” that can often follow big wins.
We can find a perfect contemporary example of this in what happened to the UNC basketball team following their thrilling, last-minute win against Duke, who was ranked number four in the country at the time (Feb 7, 2026). Just three days later, UNC went on the road and lost to an unranked University of Miami team.
So what can young athletes take away from this?
Apply the 24-hour rule today to bounce back from setbacks quicker and stronger, as well as follow-up wins with consistency and commitment in order to reach your New Level.