Mental Toughness: Learn It, Live It, Love It
15 Jul 2022
Being tough, mentally, is referred to in a few different ways. Some may call grit, others resilience. Regardless of the name you give it, it helps you reach your goals. In fact, being mentally tough is better than physical strength or intelligence. Never underestimate the power of perseverance and passion.
Self Aware
In order to make improvements to any aspect of your life, you have to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Mental toughness comes from acknowledging who you are as a person. If you already know where you might struggle mentally when you encounter problems, you’ll be more prepared to deal with them when they present themselves.
Control
Become comfortable with believing you’re in control. With the countless variables life throws at you, it’s impossible to be in control of every situation. It is, however, possible to control your own thoughts and actions. You’ll alleviate a lot of undue stress by being proactive instead of reactive.
Anticipate inconveniences and how to deal with them, should they arise. For example, looking into how much do parcel lockers cost, can keep you from worrying about missing an important delivery when life happens. Staying in control of your thoughts and emotions, and not being distracted by unimportant mental noise, will help to boost your confidence and self-esteem.
Tolerance
The more you deal with uncomfortable situations, the less likely they are to unsettle you. Building your tolerance to discomfort also helps to teach impulse control. Think about the things that make you anxious. Life doesn’t allow you to avoid uncomfortable situations that throw your anxiety into overdrive. Instead, learn how to become increasingly comfortable in these types of situations.
Public speaking is one such task that most people struggle with. If you know it’s a problem for you, take small steps to gain control of the associated anxiety. The key is to start small. Expose yourself to a small audience, only a couple of people. As your comfort levels begin to increase, so will your confidence. Gradually build your audience as your anxiety levels drop. In time, with plenty of practice, you’ll find fear subsides.
Identify Feelings
Throughout your day, you have surges of emotion that trigger certain feelings; take the time to identify what exactly you’re feeling. Oftentimes, feelings can be overwhelming because you haven’t processed them. Next thing you know, you’re reacting to things impulsively, which can damage relationships or credibility. Instead of letting your feelings control you, learn how to control them. If you are feeling angry or sad, identify the emotion you are feeling and why you’re feeling it. You’ll soon learn how you’ll react to certain situations based on the emotion you’re feeling. Set an alarm if you need to, but make it a habit to identify your feelings a few times daily.
Just Do It
Whatever that thing is that you don’t want to do: write the paper, organize the closet or weed the flowerbeds; just do it. Tell yourself, as a reward for taking on the task you want to do the least, you can stop doing it after 15 minutes. Chances are, your time limit will come and go and you will still power through getting the job done. Why? Because the most difficult part of doing something you’d rather put off, is getting started. By not putting off tasks you don’t want to do, you’re teaching your brain just because you don’t want to do it, doesn’t mean you can’t.
Being mentally tough may seem second nature to some people. The fact of the matter is, anyone can improve their mental toughness, if they know how.
Cheers,
Big Daddy
If you are a PR agency or brand and would like me to review a travel destination, vehicle, restaurant, product or service, please send me an email at craig@bigdaddykreativ.ca
Craig Silva
Craig is a husband, father, team leader, travel and food writer, senior youth group coordinator, designer, brander, community builder, volunteer, and social media strategist. He likes to travel, go camping, go on road trips, watch movies, build stuff, operate the grill, and sing with his band. Craig is a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association and Travel Media Association of Canada. If you are a PR agency or brand and would like Craig to review a travel destination, vehicle, restaurant, product or service, please send him an email.
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