Have you ever had something shitty happen…

that actually turned out to be a great blessing?

• A deal that didn’t go your way.
• A relationship that ended.
• Some news that crushed you in the moment.

And then, with time, you were able to look back and say:

“Wow… What a blessing that ended up being.”

If you really think about it, I’m sure you can come up with several moments in your life that played out this way.

And I’m also willing to bet you’re going through something difficult right now.

As I’ve shared before, I’m right in the middle of one myself.

So here’s the question I want to challenge you with:

If the past events that didn’t go the way you wanted or planned ended up working out for your highest good…

why wouldn’t this challenge you’re facing right now do the same?

E + P + R = O

Event + Perception + Response = Outcome

• Event
  • The events in your life can’t always be controlled. Shit happens. 
• Perception
  • This is the story you make up about the event.
  • Remember last week when I shared the story I made up around my health challenges? Almost every time, we create one of two stories:
    • An empowering story
    • Or a disempowering story

• Response
  • The story you create drives how you respond.
  • An empowering story leads to an empowering response. A disempowering story leads to a disempowering response.
  • I experienced this firsthand. When I allowed fear to dominate the story I was telling myself about my health, my response followed — and it led to panic attacks.
• Outcome
  • You can’t fully control the outcome…but you can heavily influence it by how you perceive the event and how you respond.
  • Empowering perception → empowering response → higher likelihood of a positive outcome. And vice versa.

What this looks like for a lot of people (unfortunately)

For many, the formula really plays out like this:

Event → Perception → Response → Outcome

People allow the event to dictate the entire sequence — and in doing so, they unknowingly give their power away to external factors they can’t control.

The real superpower of Mind Strength

The most powerful Mind Strength skill is learning how to disrupt the sequence.

Instead of letting the event dictate everything, you learn to create an empowering frame no matter what happens.

That’s what it means to master your inner world — regardless of what the external world throws at you.

When an event happens and you have the ability to:

• Control the story you tell yourself

• Find a way for the event to support who you’re becoming

You unlock what Mind Strength really is.

A simple way to start training this muscle

Use the Flip the Story exercise (available for you to download below).

This is one of the workouts I teach inside The Mind Strength Playbook: Mastery Program, where athletes and high performers train their mind the same way they train their body — with structure, repetition, and intention.

I’m actively working through it right now, and I invite you to do the same.

Here’s how:

1. Think about hard events from your past that ended up being blessings

2. Take that same mindset and apply it to a challenge you’re facing right now

3. Write down:

• The event

• Your initial perception/story

4. Then flip it:

• How could this empower you?

• What might this be preparing you for?

• How could this serve your growth?

5. Now respond accordingly

This process helps you take ownership of your life and trains you to look for solutions instead of getting caught in victim thinking — where excuses and a “woe is me” mindset creep in.

This is a powerful first step in developing one of the most critical skills you can build:
the ability to choose strength, clarity, and ownership in the face of adversity.

You won’t be perfect with this — you’ve seen I’m not — but this exercise helps you reset, get back on track, and back into the Mind Strength weight room, preparing you for future events and moving you one step closer to becoming the best version of yourself.

Download the exercise here. 

Easy Easy,

-Luke Falk

See you next Monday!