Ryan Lochte is changing up his strategy and mind frame as he prepares for Monday night's episode of Dancing With the Stars.

Lochte has made it past four celebrities thus far on Dancing With the Stars, and the Olympic swimmer is now in the Top 9. But as the competition continues to heighten, Lochte is hoping to just focus on his dances rather than think about beating others.

"For this week, I think I need to stop thinking of this as a competition so much because the more I think about a competition the more I psych myself out and I get more tense," Lochte wrote in a new Yahoo TV blog entry. "So if I can relax as we go into the show, if I just think I'm going out there to do my best, I'll be more relaxed and I'll be able to show emotion, show my character that I'm playing, and I'll get better scores. If I do that, I think I'll be happy."

For this week, Lochte and his partner, Cheryl Burke, will be dancing contemporary to "A Song for You" by Leon Russell. This is part of "Most Memorable Year" Night, in which the celebrities perform dances inspired by the most significant year in their lives.

"Stay tuned for this week's dance. Hopefully, it will be very emotional and sentimental," Lochte wrote. "And no matter what, I need your votes. I need that help."

Lochte is going through a pretty memorable year already, having gotten in trouble at the Rio Olympics for vandalizing a gas station with friends and then lying about it. The swimmer continues to be plagued by the incident, as seen in Week 1 where a pair of protesters stormed the stage after his first dance.

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

Tags: Dancing with the Stars Reality TV ABC ryan lochte