“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
Mental toughness is paramount for achieving any lofty goal or overcoming extreme hurdles.
By Brent Gleeson for Forbes
Few great things in this world come without a little bit of adversity. Nothing amazing happens inside our comfort zones. Whether we are talking about earning a promotion, nurturing a challenged marriage, mastering a sport, building or saving a small business, battling disease, dealing with the loss of a loved one, raising children, or hunting terrorists, some suffering will always be attached. That’s why the things we love and work hard for are rewarding.
The psychological traits of grit and resilience have been widely researched but still pose a challenge as it relates to how we actually develop mental toughness. My new book – Embrace the Suck: The Navy SEAL Way to an Extraordinary Life – being released on December 22, 2020 (with a gut punch of a foreword by David Goggins), is about resilience and poses several questions: How do we build resilience? Do some people have larger sums in their resilience bank accounts than others? How can we make more deposits than withdrawals? Does it happen naturally over time or can we train ourselves to be more mentally tough? The overarching answer is simple. Resilience is like any muscle. With focus and determination—and some of the habits in this article—you can strengthen your mind to overcome any obstacle, crush goals, dominate your battlefield, and live an extraordinary life.
There are many habits you can develop to improve your mental toughness. In fact, the hallmarks of mentally tough people are actually strategies that anyone can practice every day.
Mentally tough people…
1 – Love a good challenge:
Mentally tough people view obstacles as a challenge, not as a paralyzing event. They look at their failures and mistakes as lessons to be learned from and opportunities for growth. In other words, they embrace obstacles better than others because they lean in.