MENTAL TOUGHNESS
“Confidence is knowing you are unbeatable at any time in any situation, while, humility is having the awareness that you can be beat at any time in any situation.” Unshakeable Confidence/Self-belief – Once you have the right information to believe…choose to believe it to the point of action. It doesn’t matter anyone’s opinion. One sound belief outweighs 100 opinions.
Humility: Self-Confidence – Humility = arrogance and pride. Wise men choose to humble themselves while fools choose to be humbled by the world. The true masters of their craft are the most humble people because they realize they haven’t yet learned all there is to know about their craft. Nor will they ever. If you want to know if someone is for real or a fake…look no further than their level of humility.
Understand and Eliminate Fear: Fear debilitates. It’s a liar presenting false evidence as real.
High Motivation (Intrinsic) – Don’t rely on others to tell you what to do. Get the job done despite how you might feel. Know what you want and be relentless in your pursuit until it’s yours. In highly important missions, Masters in Navy Seals training integrate the mentality of “embrace the suck” where, when everyone else is hitting the wall…they hit the wall too, but with a different result. They thrive on this moment because they then dig deeper by “embracing the suck” and tap into fuel that most don’t know exists. In this moment they become fully present and find a way to up their performance while others are finding excuses to quit.
Be the BEST – Most want to be good and settle for good. Some want to be great and settle at great. Very few strive to be the best and never settle. Striving for perfection in all that they do, realizing perfection is an ideal not a destination. Treat every opportunity with the same significance as if you signed a 1 day contract on life. Always playing for one more day.
Will to win – Push your body beyond what the mind at first believes possible. Maintain an unwillingness to compromise, let up or give up. Always doing more than those who just want to win.
Calm Amongst the Storm: These individuals remain unphased when all about them might be falling apart. They have an unshakeable belief, focus, and drive that allows them to slow their thinking down and stay peaceful amongst chaos.
Good with Words: Words are a direct reflection of thoughts. Mentally tough people know the power of words and choose to only use words that are helpful in a situation instead of harmful to self and others.
Emotional Resilience – Develop an awareness of what is going on inside of you with the attitude of intercepting poor thought and emotional patterns and replacing them with sound thought and emotional patterns. An example used with pitchers before entering a ball game is turning thoughts and feelings of nervousness into thoughts of readiness and feelings of excitement. The body cannot tell the difference. Controlling emotions always keeps you on the offensive. Allowing your emotions to control you will distract focus and keep you on the defensive.
Forgiveness: Of self and others. Who are we to determine if someone is undeserving of forgiveness? Remember to look at you and reflect on all you’ve been forgiven. Much easier to forgive now, huh?
Patient Endurance w/Expectation: Your ability to endure the pressures and deceitful pleasures of life is anchored by an end goal…a hope. Realize that you are often only 1 moment away from achieving victory. One moment. When you string enough “moments” together, you get a lifetime. Patient endurance with the expectation of receiving the thing desired will give you the strength and stamina to endure anything for just ONE MORE MOMENT. We never truly know how close we are to the thing we most want until we have it. Stick with it. Go the extra mile. There’s never traffic.
Sense of Urgency: If its inconvenient…it probably needs doing now. Get done what needs to get done, NOW. Be proactive, stay ahead. Understand that you cannot manage time. Time waits on no one. But you can prioritize your time and have perspective on what’s most important right now. .
Positive Perspective of Pressure: Thrive or Threat? Which do you see? It’s your choice. True competitors live for the chance to be in situations others secretly want to run from. They trust their preparation and abilities to get the job done more than anyone else’s.
Find the Humor: Humor and smiling can change everything. Research shows that smiling and laughing restores energy and is a natural pain reliever. Humor can distract your mind and body when under duress and serve as an escape from present moment emotional and physical discomfort by releasing feel good chemicals equivalent to eating chocolate!
Befriend Failure: Wise people connect themselves with people they can learn from. Failure is an incredible teacher that few listen to and learn from.
Eyes Up…Eyes Off: When you get your eyes up and off of you and onto others you will get energized from it. Even if no one ever returns the action, it makes it no less effective when your motivation stems from your desire to energize, encourage, and empower others.
Consistency: Anyone can be great once in a awhile. Realize that being consistently good may not get you accolades, but it will get you where you want to go and keep you there.
Be on Time: Being on time requires that you are mentally present and physically prepared before go time. Showing up on time is not the same as being on time. We’re on time to important events like a job interview but somehow a family dinner doesn’t fall into that same kind of importance. Treat each event like it’s a job interview. People notice.
See the Finish: Have the end goal in mind at the proper time. If you don’t know where you’re headed, how will you know you are on the right path? See it as if it were already yours. Then live it.
You are in control of your thinking patterns every moment of life. Understand that to be the greatest gift you’ll ever receive. Take care of your thought life and it will take care of you.
Make a list of your own mental toughness qualities and how you will choose to measure them so you can see your improvement.