The Mental Toughness Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Facing Life's Challenges, Managing Negative Emotions, and Overcoming Adversity with Courage and Poise

by Damon Zahariades

Our habits signify what is important to us. They reflect our values and priorities. If we adopt a good diet and regularly exercise, it means our health is important to us. If we meditate each morning, it means we value starting the day with a peaceful, stress-free state of mind. On the other hand, suppose we constantly eat junk food, refuse to exercise, and regularly argue with people online about politics. These habits also suggest our values and priorities. Perseverance is as much a habit as brushing your teeth before going to bed. It’s a behavioral response we train ourselves to carry out in certain circumstances. Like any habit, it has cues that trigger us to take action. The good news is, we can create these cues to help us develop this habit. This process, developing habits that make our behaviors more consistent, is a vital part in developing mental toughness. It eliminates our need to rely on willpower, motivation, and inspiration, all of which are fickle and fleeting. Instead, we can rely on the routines and systems we design to prompt our behavioral responses to stress and pressure.