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In situations like this when things are bad, the easy thing to do is fold up the tent, just pack it up and accept it. But winners and people who are successful realize that when things get tough, it’s an opportunity to define yourself. They realize that in this moment, you can do something great.

For me, I want to try to see who I am. I just want to be Jon Beason every day, come to work with the same attitude every day, the way I carry myself and in everything I do. I want to be who I know I am, and to continue having that confidence in myself.

When there’s turmoil, people ask a lot of questions and everybody wants answers.

You always want to be one of the constants that nobody questions, where everyone knows you are doing your job the right way. Whatever your job is, whether it’s delivering the mail or playing linebacker in the NFL, you want to be able to say you’re not a problem, that you’re doing your job successfully, and hopefully everyone else follows suit and tries to do things the right way. If enough people are doing the right thing, the team can turn it around and consistently be a winner rather than keep finding ways to lose ballgames.

There has to be a higher level of focus and energy. Everybody has to have their head in the game. Personally, I have yet to make the big play that I think so many people are accustomed to seeing from me. It’s not from lack of effort. I just have to find a way to ensure that when the opportunity comes, I find a way to take advantage of it and give my team a better opportunity to win the game.

Moving from middle to outside linebacker has definitely been hard on me because I know I have the ability to dominate a game. A lot of times when things aren’t going right people try to do other people’s jobs, which causes more confusion and problems in other areas. We are creatures of habit and it’s very hard to stay enthusiastic when things are constantly going bad for you. But a true champion never wavers, he realizes that when you reach your goal by going through obstacles and adversity, the reward is even bigger.

It’s important to remember that the reasons you have to keep fighting outweigh what you have sacrificed of your time and energy to try to get that win.

We play the Saints at home on Sunday. It’s a division rivalry, and every time we play them it’s a close contest, two teams really going at it. It’s always fun to play the Saints and we have them at our place, which is huge. Hopefully they come in feeling good about their big win over Pittsburgh and they underestimate us. I know it’s going to take a flawless performance to pull out a win, but we were one play away from beating them last time, so I don’t see why it can’t happen for us this week.

Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jonbeason and vote for Jon for the Pro Bowl at http://www.nfl.com/probowl/ballot.