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April 1 - April 8, 2021
mental toughness is our durability in the face of adversity.
First, it involves our reaction to stress. Do we crumble or persist? Do we give up or stay the course? Second, it involves our responses to our emotions. What do we do when we feel frustrated? How do we deal with our anger and disappointment when life seems unfair to us? Third, it involves our resilience. When things go wrong in our lives, do we dust ourselves off and get back on track or complain and blame others for our predicaments? Fourth, it involves our grit. When we face roadblocks to achieving our goals, do we press onward or concede defeat? Grit and mental toughness are often
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They realize that while making plans is useful, unpredicted situations can quickly ruin even the most carefully prepared plans. So they learn to adapt. They train themselves to be mentally flexible so they’re able to adjust whenever they’re confronted by unexpected circumstances.
Self-awareness is the recognition of your emotional state, the motives driving your decisions and actions, and the influence of your personality and temperament.
Mentally strong people are hyper self-aware. They have to be so. Their confidence to perform effectively and handle any situation that unfolds before them stems from this awareness. They trust themselves to adapt to changing circumstances and overcome obstacles not merely because of their strengths, but also because they acknowledge their weaknesses. This allows them to control their emotions, absorb stress, and remain resilient when things go awry.
Mentally tough people achieve it by purposefully investigating their psyches and developing compensatory strategies that help them deal with adversity.
As Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Chief of Staff of the Prussian army in the 1800s said, “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”
Mental toughness requires that we’re consistently honest with ourselves, clear about our commitments and convictions, and willing to face difficult situations with a positive mindset.
Let’s clarify what it means to delay gratification. It’s the decision to resist enjoying something we crave in the present for something we crave even more down the road.
Each of us has our own inner critic. It sits comfortably in the background, waiting for an opportunity to criticize our actions, judge our work, and denounce our decisions. We must learn to silence this internal voice. Otherwise, we risk being overwhelmed by its persistent assault. The negative self-talk it produces throughout each day can take a severe emotional and psychological toll.
Whenever you feel the impulse to do something you enjoy, meditate for five minutes before acting on the impulse. Set a timer. Then close your eyes and focus on your breathing. This simple exercise trains your mind to exert self-control. It’s an easy way to grow accustomed to discomfort and delay gratification without experiencing significant inconvenience.
… the brain does not always differentiate between real and vividly imagined experiences because the same systems in the brain are deployed for both types of experiences.” When you visualize doing something successfully, your brain thinks it’s real. Consequently, visualization can literally improve your chances of success. This is the reason world-class athletes use this technique before they compete. If it works for them, it’ll work for you.
The second thing mental rehearsal does is prepare you for every possible contingency. When you visualize how you’ll respond to various challenges, you train your mind to react faster. Rather than being forced to interpret each setback in the moment and choose the appropriate response, your responses will already be in place.
#4 - Practice ignoring things that are beyond your control. The Stoics had this correct. Some things lay beyond our control and therefore shouldn’t consume our attentional resources. Epictetus, a Greek philosopher who died in 135 AD, noted the following in his Discourses: The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control.”
When your willpower wanes, focus on your purpose. There are undoubtedly tasks on your to-do list that you’d like to postpone or avoid entirely. When we’re faced with such tasks, it’s sometimes difficult to summon the mental fortitude to attend to them. They may be unpleasant. Or they may require us to abandon (even if only temporarily) a more gratifying activity. During these times, focus on why the task needs to be completed.
