Dog is my teacher- What I learned from failure

Today my lovely wonderful dog and I competed in rally. This was not our first time nor our 6th but, he loves it and I enjoy doing things with him he likes so we continue to compete at beginner level knowing we aren't ready to go off-leash in the advanced competition just yet.
Well today we show up get set up and potty break prior to our warm up. We do a few tricks and run back and forth like normal then we stand by the ring until our turn. Meanwhile my dog is awful, he normally is at ring-side he pulls and sniffs and wants to visit with strange dogs and then when he gets in the ring he is fine, ready to focus and loves the tasks. not,today. He got in the ring and immediately turned to look at a dog "of interest" outside the ring. I asked him to do a few tasks and he could not keep interest on what I was asking, he kept being bad, nose to the ground sniffing and pulling to go out of the ring. Until, indeed he exited the ring at one station and we were disqualified. The judge invited us to finish and I should have known to just say no thank you he isn't into it today. But, I am shy and not very brave so I said ok let's go and we kept trying to do the course. He was horrible. I was embarrassed and angry because I know he isn't to do that normally. I left the ring after it all and just wanted to go home. But I worked him a little and sat in my chair for a minute. I was so sad for us, team Macon failed.
Then a little spark came to me once in the car on the way home. He was tired today and wasn't in the mood and I dismissed it and pushed him. I let him down. I couldn't get his interest and had trouble focusing on us instead of people watching us fail. I realized that it isn't about anyone but us. It is our time, our teamwork and I always focus on that and am always ready to make him my shining star. I lost that today and was angry with him but, it was my fault. When our dogs are bad it is always our fault because we don't lead correctly.
Anyway what I learned from my failure was dogs get the ribbons and we get the "air ribbons" thebadges of failure shining brightly in our face as if to say..."challenge" and how we accept such a challenge is what shows how we are as leaders. I know it does no good to get angry or yell or scold my dog he doesn't know what to do with that. I know I have to amp myself up to be worthy of following in order to get what I am looking for.
Someone suggested I dab a cottonball with vanilla oil and just before ring time dab his nose with it to void the interesting smells and allow him to focus. Someone else once told me not to over warm up because the dog loses interest in what you want after a while or tires out. Others have told me that if you break out the great treats right before and have a good interesting smell around you you will do better. Some dogs have trouble on dirt or grass and compete well on mats only. I heard one time if you let your dog sniff outside the ring they think it is ok inside.
I guess it all comes back to training, focus on the 3d's duration, distance and distraction. My dog is fine with the crowds but, not so good with the smelly distractions and working close to them while I am perhaps a little farther away could be a good stage.
I was too comfortable and took it for granted. He was tired and distracted and had to wait for the show time too long. He did wonderfully yesterday and is amazing. I need to trust that this fluke will have good come out of it. I will learn to prepare myself and do what I need to do first and foremost. That is what is best to captain team Macon.