Mental toughness. The phrase alone sounds resilient. It packs a punch. It’s short and to the point.
But what exactly is mental toughness? Why do people deem mental toughness so important?
What does it mean to be mentally tough?
Mental toughness is the ability to overcome all psychological barriers to your success. Yes, the stuff all humans struggle with: doubt, worries concerns, imposter syndrome. The list goes on.
It is also the ability to overcome circumstances. And it is the ability to manage and resist all of these things. Sounds tough, right?
If only one could, manage, resist, and overcome the stress, the doubt, the worry, and the imposter syndrome. Imagine what you could do with that type of resilience.
The confidence that you would have would be crazy! But mental toughness is just something you have, right? Either you’re born with it or you aren’t. The answer is yes and no.
Yes, there are some amazing people out there that are just born mentally tough. But it doesn’t mean you are doomed if you didn’t luck out with resilient genes.
You can develop mental toughness. No, it doesn’t involve any type of extreme survivor boot camp. I’ll tell you exactly what developing mental toughness involves. But first, we must know what a mentally tough person looks like.
What does a mentally tough person look like?
A mentally tough person is that one person you know that keeps going. They were told no and it never bothered them.
They just kept going because they had a vision in mind. They don’t see failure as the end. They see it as a pivot point.
You can only get better from your failures. They are those people that are comfortable feeling uncomfortable because they have an end-goal in mind.
They know they cannot control everything in life and they accept that.
They know what they can control and that is their own actions. So, they change their actions.
What people say or think about them has no weight. And because of all this, they come out on top and admired by many.
During the beginning of their journey, some might call them crazy, but they don’t care what you think. Life keeps going with or without their approval. They got a purpose to fulfill.
How to become mentally tough in life?
Change your language.
Language is a powerful thing. The way you speak can influence your thoughts. Saying you can’t write a book or can’t win the race imposes a can’t mentality on you.
In order to become mentally tough, you need to change the way you think. Anything can happen if you think in a way that allows you to find solutions for your problems and be grateful.
You can write a book if you plan it out, right? You can win the race if you trained. You are thinking in one dimension. What is the reason you can’t and how can you make it into a can do.
Stop say you what you can’t do and start thinking about what you can do.
Figure out your why.
If you know your why, you will certainly be driven to reach your goal. It doesn’t matter what the neighbors say about your 200 boxes of T-shirts in the backyard. You know why you are selling them.
Make fear your friend. Sounds scary. But sometimes the reason you fear something is because you care and that’s all the more reason to go through with it. You fear messing up at the interview because working at X and Y Financials is your dream job.
Fear is now your key indicator that you definitely need to interview. You’re just going to practice your interview techniques so you can feel more confident that you won’t mess up. Dissect your fear and dismantle it.
Realize not all criticism is meant to insult you.
Yeah, the criticism may sound harsh. Especially, after you spent 6 months working on the proposal only for them to shut you down in 5 minutes but use the criticism as directions.
Most people won’t criticize for no reason. Find out what the problem is and aim to pivot from there and make your work better.
You also know what you need to do next time you need to launch a product. Don’t obsess over your failure. But don’t just forget about it either.
Be optimistic.
Realize that you are in control of your future and your actions. Yes, things may happen unexpectedly. But you can control how you approach the situation.
You did not get into your dream university. But you can still apply to other universities. In fact, you can re-apply next year. Or you could go to another school.
Maybe it is faith trying to push you in a better direction. Be grateful that you have all the opportunities to get an education. You may find that because you were pushed into a place of discomfort, you were able to grow.
You grew far more in a foreign place than you could in your hometown at your dream university. But also remain realistic in your optimism.
Distance yourself from toxic people.
I don’t know how many times I will say this. It seems to be a key factor in many of my posts. But toxic people are called toxic people for a reason.
They drain you of your life force and make you weak. Keep your time with them to the minimum and set your boundaries.
Learn to say no.
Mentally tough people can say no and not care. They know why they are saying no. That’s all that matters. Saying no decreases stress. This is because you are not pressured into doing something you don’t want to do or have no time for.
Own up to your responsibilities.
Yes, sometimes it hurts to own up to them. But mentally tough people do not play the blame game. Plus people respect you more when you own up to your mistakes.
Own up to your responsibilities and if you make a mistake, let the appropriate people know. Also, find a solution if you can.
Don’t be afraid of change.
They say the only thing that is permanent is change. Change is scary but it can also be a good thing. Allowing yourself to embrace change saves you from all the stress that comes with resisting change.
Learning something new is already stressful enough. Don’t add to the stress by creating more resistance.
Let’s wrap it all up here
These are just a few ways you can make yourself mentally tough. Don’t be too serious about life. Life is already stressful enough. Change can be a gift so, go with it.
Learn to adjust after failures. Failing is okay. It is what you do after the failure that really matters. And sometimes failures come with major oops moments.
Own up to your responsibilities if you are the prime contributor to the mistake. Try and create a solution, not create drama out of the problems.
Focusing on your why and the things that really matter can help you to ignore the outside noise and become mentally tough. Who cares what your neighbors think?
You’re already making headway on your master plan to success. They’re not living with your consciousness or paying your bills.
Wooh! I definitely had some major writer’s block while writing this. But I smashed it! Hope you enjoyed.
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This post is most certainly not the accepted definition of a ‘rant’.
It is a powerful message that captures the discipline required to stay focused on a goal. It bears a rich message of strength and hope which a lot of us may yearn to hear in order to go the distance, but never heard from anyone around us.
You have inspired my confidence to remain true to any vision resting in my heart which no else may believe in. Infinite Thanks for a job well done.
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Wow! Thank you so much! I’m glad that I was able to inspire your confidence. That’s what I aim to do. Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment. I truly appreciate it.
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