When it comes to achieving any goal that we set out to accomplish, we must
have certain degree of mental toughness depending on the degree of the goal.
Now, writing a 5 page paper for school takes a little less mental effort than
running a marathon, but nonetheless, everything requires mental toughness to
get the task done with excellence.
People who are not mentally tough give up on their goals when challenges
arise on their road to achievement. Mental toughness will help push you past
the challenges you will face and has helped some of the world’s greatest
achievers reach a level of success that many dream of. Mental toughness is
an abstract concept that comes with the shifting of one’s perception. Here I
want to share 7 things you must change within your mindset and character in
order to help you mentally toughen up.
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1. Never Expect Immediate Results
Pursuing a goal, such as writing a paper or pursuing a higher level of
achievement, such as running a marathon both take time to accomplish. Once you
start on the road to victory you cannot expect immediate greatness on the
first try. So many people get caught up in the destination and don’t enjoy the
process.
If you want to be mentally tough you must learn to enjoy the process in
reaching a goal. When someone asks you to write a paper about a historical
figure in history you know nothing about, and you want to write it with
excellence, you cannot expect to just pick a pen and paper and know what to
write. You have to go through the process of finding books and finding enough
research to write an excellent paper, and you can’t expect to find everything
you need in the first book you pick up.
It is all a process and you have to learn to enjoy it. Even with running a
marathon, do you expect to be able to run it after the first day you train?
Set realistic expectations and overestimate the time it will take to get the
results that you want. When we never expect immediate results, we develop a
sense of patience, allowing us to endure more mental endeavors.
2. Don’t Give Up After the First Failure
A mentally tough person never gives up on the first failure. You must learn to
build resiliency within your character and go after a goal, time after time
again. Thomas Edison once said “The most certain way to succeed it to just try
one more time.” When you fail an exam, study harder and take it over. When you
fall off of that skateboard, get up and try again. When you build a business
and it doesn’t work out, build another one. You must learn the art of
resiliency if you want to be mentally tough. Always be the person who is
willing to try it one more time.
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3. Never Focus On the Things You Can’t Control
There are a lot of things in this world that we cannot control, but there are
also a lot of things we can. When we begin to focus on the things we can
control we never become stressed or over-whelmed, allowing us to endure more.
When someone feels stressed out or overwhelmed, they want to give up on their
path or endeavor because they want the mental pain to go away.
This can stem from focusing on the things that you cannot control in your life
such as sickness, accidents, or job losses. You cannot control the fact that
you might get sick, but you can take the necessary measures to feel better
faster. You cannot control the accidents that may occur in your life, but you
can control how you react to them. There is always a better way to look at
things, or a way to make things better. Focus on the things you have control
of.
4. Don’t Dwell On The Past
Dwelling on the past can cause a lot of emotional build up that is just not
needed in your life. The past is something you have no control over, and as
stated above, never focus on the things that you cannot control. You have
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Knowing this will give a certain sense of power than will compel you to take
action in your life. In order to be mentally tough you must understand this
concept and make it a part of your life’s mission to never dwell on the past.
You will be able to reach for any goal or level of achievement once you
realize that past events do not define you.
5. Don’t Worry About Pleasing Everyone
When you learn to stop people pleasing, you learn a certain sense of mental
toughness. It is people’s natural tendency to want to be accepted by others,
it is socially hard-wired in our brain from birth. Mental toughness arises
from you being able to alter your perception and re-configure your brain. When
you get into the habit of no longer caring about being accepted by others, you
open up an entirely new world of adventure, enabling you to endure a lot more
criticism and rejection.
6. Never Shy Away From Change
Learning to move towards and accept change will help you to always be ready
for change. The people who shy away from change are never prepared to accept
and move towards change. They are stuck in the past and in this, you can never
really grow. The only thing that we can be certain of in this world is that
change will happen. The mentally tough have grown accustomed to accepting
change. So in order to mentally toughen up, learn to move towards and accept
change.
7. Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Learn to get out of your comfort zone if you want to mentally toughen up. When
you constantly do things that makes you uncomfortable or scares you, you lose
the sense of fear and you will become more confident in trying new things. The
mentally tough are people who are confident that they can achieve something,
even if they have never done it before. Trying new things will give a certain
kind of resilience to fear and give you some new found confidence.
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Take Away
Mental toughness all boils down to how you perceive the world and how you look
at the things that happen to you. Leaning to see things in a more positive
light will allow you to endure more challenges and the pain of the process to
achieving a goal. Here is a recap:
- Never expect immediate results during any process.
- Learn resiliency and never give up after the first failure.
- Focus on the things you can control, not the things you cannot.
- Don’t dwell on the past.
- Focus on yourself instead of others, learn to take criticism and rejection.
- Never shy away from change.
- Get out of your comfort zone.
