I have stood on hundreds of starting lines around the world. I have competed against the best athletes in races as short as one hour and as long as 10 hours. My favorite distance is the hardest and longest of them all: Ironman — a 3.8-km swim, 180-km bike ride and 42-km run. I have raced 33 Ironman races and won 11.

Any of us on the start line can win, yet some athletes will never win an Ironman. What sets us apart?

Peak performance in life is combination of competitiveness — you have to want it and get after it — and compassion. When you have both, then you can finish everything you start, and that brings success.

When it feels impossible to take another step in the last 10 km of a marathon or to sit through the last meeting for a critical project, you have to convince yourself that it is better to push through another 60 minutes of discomfort than to endure weeks of regret. It is exhausting to play and replay all the possible “what if” scenarios after the fact.

Once I am finished with a race, I do not want to give my performance another thought. I always want to finish knowing that I did everything in my power to win. When I know that is true, I will have no regrets — regardless of the position in which I finish. We cannot control our competitors. We can only control our own attitude and our own effort, and if that effort is your full effort and comes from your heart, it is enough to win.

How many of us give in to temptation, whether that means walking the closing kilometers of a marathon or pushing the snooze button on the alarm clock and missing a morning workout or meeting, only to regret it afterwards? Forward thinking will help to minimize these moments. When you hit any obstacle, ask yourself, Can I endure a little bit more pain now so that I don’t have to live with regret later? And that can be any kind of pain — physical exertion, stress, mental effort or emotional upset.

I have cystic fibrosis. CF is a genetic disease that affects the lungs and pancreas by clogging them with thick, sticky mucus. In the lungs, this can cause shortness of breath, a chronic cough and repeated infections. Ultimately, it leads to lung disease and decreased lung function. It may result in the need for a lung transplant.

From 2009 to 2010, my lung function went from 100% to 70% to 55%, and that was when the doctors put me on an IV for five weeks.

On paper, I should never have been able to race in 33 Ironman events, countless Ironman 70.3 (half-distance) events and Olympic-distance events around the world for 20 years. I should never have been able to swim 30 km per week, bike 400 km per week and run 80–100 km per week. I should never have been able to win 11 Ironman and 16 Ironman 70.3 events. I should never have qualified for World Championship events or raced for Canada at the Pan American Games.

Let’s all go to our personal start lines with an inner energy to be humble yet confident leaders, accepting who we are but wise enough to make the changes to become our best selves. Adversity leads to greatness.

We do not often think about selling ourselves to ourselves, but that is precisely what we need before undertaking a major task.

Before each race, I used to create or review lists of my assets and my best workouts. I called these my “memory box.” Essentially, I was compiling a list of reasons I should be successful. I would revisit the lists in my mind during the race to remind myself why I would be successful. This is not meant to be an ego-driven task but rather an affirmation, when the race is unfolding, that there are many reasons I can do this and reasons I am a champion. These lists do not change regardless of the outcome. They represent me at my core, and neither a win nor a last-place finish can change the true me. My lists are more powerful than any award or job promotion or compliment from another person. My lists change a 10-minute deficit off the bike into “I can catch you, regardless of the time gap, for these reasons.” They change “I am not good enough and I want to quit” to “I remember running 30 km in two hours three weeks ago and I can do that today.”

Here is the list of assets I made in preparation for the Ironman World Championships in 2004:

• I am loved and give love back.
• I have my husband, Dave.
• I have my family, my friends and my dogs.
• I am educated.
• I never give up; I never quit a race.
• I am a good problem-solver. I can deal with any obstacle during a race.
• I always find a way to get the job done.
• I never miss a workout.
• I can see the good in people.
• I am a good listener.
• I have good support — my coach, my physiotherapist, my chiropractor and my sports doctor.
• I have integrity and will never cheat.
• I am not injured.

Make your lists. Read them, reread them and believe them. Choose a few of your key assets and put them on a business card in your wallet or on your mirror for daily review.

Be your biggest fan and become a life hero. Find a way where there is no way. Finish what you start, and do everything with heart.

Lisa Bentley raced for 20 years as a top-ranked professional triathlete, won dozens of Ironman races and represented Canada on multiple national teams despite having cystic fibrosis. But her most important accolade is as a beacon of hope for families with CF. Since retiring from professional sports, Bentley authored her first book, “An Unlikely Champion,” and has delivered motivational speeches across North America. She teaches audiences how to turn adversity into mastery and fires them up to be their best self every day.