During my 19 years of playing, I have competed in nearly 400 tournaments.  When I look back at those events, I see probably…
100 good tournaments
250 average tournaments
50 absolutely terrible tournaments
 
By terrible, I mean that my performance was much worse than I had hoped for and that I didn’t perform even close to my full potential.  So, if I would have avoided playing those 50 tournaments, would my playing career have been better during the last 19 years?????? 
 
Absolutely not.
 
You see, it took those losses and those bad tournaments for me to clearly see my problems, clearly see my weak points, fix them, and come back stronger in future tournaments.  If I had not had those terrible tournaments, then I would not have been able to have very very successful tournaments either. 
 
So this year, when you have a bad tournament, step back and ask yourself this question, “Am I going to cry and get depressed over my poor performance?  Or, am I going to see it as a learning experience to gain more knowledge about my game, to fix problems in my game, and to come back stronger the next time?”
 
The choice is yours.