The Fortitude Chronicle: A Weekly Digest of Athletic Determination

Monday Momentum

For the Relentless Mind

Resilience Isn’t Endurance-It’s Alchemy

In a recent podcast interview, I had the privilege of speaking with The University of Kansas’ Director of Player Operations, Fred Quartlebaum. When I spoke with Coach Q, his story of navigating his son Mayson’s cancer diagnosis and his mother’s battle with breast cancer was a powerful reminder: resilience isn’t just a word we toss around during tough times-it’s a way of life. Mayson’s reaction to his diagnosis-shrugging off pity and choosing humor-wasn’t just an act of bravery. It was a real-life example of what it means to live resiliently, not just talk about it.

But what does it actually look like to embody resilience, day in and day out? Here’s what Coach Q’s experience illuminated for me, and what I believe are the deeper, actionable lessons for anyone facing adversity:

1. Radical Accountability: Choosing Agency Over Victimhood

Resilience begins with taking ownership-even when life feels out of your hands. This isn’t about controlling every outcome; it’s about accepting responsibility for your response. When adversity hits, the easy path is to blame circumstances or retreat into self-pity. The resilient path is to ask: What can I influence right now? Even small acts-keeping a routine, reaching out for support, or simply showing up-are powerful declarations of agency.
Radical accountability is the antidote to helplessness. It shifts your focus from what’s happening to you, to what you can do about it.

2. Transforming Fear Into Focus

Resilience isn’t about suppressing fear or pretending everything is fine. It’s about redirecting the energy that fear generates. Humor, as Mason demonstrated, is one way to reclaim power in the face of uncertainty. But so is channeling anxiety into preparation, or using worry as a prompt to take meaningful action.
Fear is energy. When you consciously redirect it-through humor, action, or service-it becomes fuel for progress rather than a barrier.

3. Prioritizing Process Over Outcome

In moments of crisis, it’s tempting to obsess over the finish line-remission, victory, a return to normalcy. But the most resilient people I’ve met, including Coach Q and his family, focus on the process: the daily rituals, the small wins, the next right step. This shift grounds you in the present and makes even the hardest journeys manageable.
Anchoring yourself to the process, not the outcome, builds endurance. It allows you to find meaning in each day, rather than waiting for circumstances to improve.

4. Reframing Setbacks as Information

Adversity isn’t a personal indictment. It’s information. Every setback, whether it’s a missed opportunity, a health crisis, or a failed attempt, offers data about what needs to change or where to focus next. The resilient mindset is curious, not judgmental. It asks, What is this teaching me? rather than Why is this happening to me?
Treat setbacks as feedback, not failure. This perspective keeps you adaptive and open to growth, even in the toughest times.

5. Building a Resilience Portfolio

No one tool or tactic sustains resilience alone. It’s the combination-accountability, humor, process, curiosity, and support systems-that creates staying power. The most resilient people diversify their coping strategies and draw on them as needed, depending on the situation.
Resilience is cumulative. The more you practice these habits, the more naturally they become your default response to adversity.

Coach Q’s story is a testament to living resilience, not just surviving hardship. It’s a reminder that strength isn’t reserved for the extraordinary-it’s built through ordinary choices, made consistently, especially when life is hardest.

In the end, resilience isn’t about bouncing back to who you were. It’s about responding to adversity in a way that shapes who you become.

Two Quotes

1. “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde

2. “Champions adjust. Pressure is a privilege-it means you’re in a position where people expect you to perform. It’s not about winning or losing; it’s about rising to the occasion when your time comes.” – Billy Jean King

Three Tweets

To Building Fortitude.

 Best Regards,

Colin Jonov, Founder & CEO Athletic Fortitude