Paul Lyons* says mental toughness is within everyone’s reach – and without spending time and money on coaches or training courses.
I have been reading a post about 10 life skills that require no talent or education.
They were attributes like ‘being on time’, ‘work ethic’, ‘passion’ – traits that can make you super productive and successful.
I thought I would join in with 10 tips to promote mental toughness that also require zero talent.
Collectively they can build your mental toughness so that you can perform and deal with stress better.
You can build each of these skills quite quickly by starting small and doing something relating to them each day.
In no particular order they are:
Be Positive:
Your brain’s inbuilt negativity bias seeks to limit your curiosity and keep you out of trouble.
As a result if you aren’t thinking positively you are likely, by default, thinking negatively.
In order to override this negativity and clear the mental obstacles that limit your performance, keep talking to yourself positively through difficult situations.
After a while the voices in your head will naturally become positive not negative.
Define Your Purpose:
Are you happy with who you are?
If not, find out who you want to be and why, and then strive to get there.
Once you have your life’s purpose you begin to feel comfortable in your own skin and sure about who you are and how you are going to react in different situations.
This contributes to your mental strength. Without a purpose you are at risk of being pushed around like litter in the wind.
Manage Your Emotions:
While it’s important to have emotions and feelings, you want to control and manage them rather than the other way around.
Otherwise their unpredictability can affect your focus and self-discipline and often your behaviour.
Sometimes this behaviour is irrational and harmful.
Look for ways to ‘respond not react’ to situations to keep your emotions in track.
Build Empathy:
Whilst empathy isn’t always associated with mental toughness, learning to understand someone else’s situation and motivation can help you.
With empathy you can influence situations and build strong relationships with others.
It often means that you can achieve mutually beneficial outcomes and create trust, which in turn builds your own confidence and strength in relationships.
Never Stop Extending Your Comfort Zone:
By its very nature your comfort zone is comfortable and familiar, but it doesn’t challenge you to go further.
If you can build your mindset to keep on learning and growing, you will extend your comfort zone.
This allows you to include more skills situations and experiences that are familiar and within your capability.
Reframe Negative Events Positively:
Even the best performers in sport, business and the arts experience frustrations, setbacks, failures and poor outcomes.
However, they are the best in their field because they respond positively to those setbacks.
They aren’t the victim — they respond by controlling their reaction, which is to look for ways to learn from that negative situation and turn it into an opportunity.
They seek to get better or change their approach.
Set Goals and Targets:
Having goals and targets gives you a foundation and a structure to your day.
Without them you are operating randomly with no orderly pattern to achieving what you want or need to make happen to be successful or productive.
Focus:
Focus is all about having the self-discipline to achieve your goals and targets without procrastinating or being distracted.
It takes some mental training but without it you won’t get the performance you want.
Be Ready for Anything:
Life is full of opportunities and different scenarios beyond your routine and ‘business as usual’.
Being open to this means you can spot and seize these opportunities as they come along.
Alternatively you may see the early warning signs on a negative situation that is brewing.
Learn to be ‘alert not alarmed’.
Be Energetic:
Energy is the currency of charisma.
With energy you can positively impact on the people around you.
Your energy is infectious and helps to positively inspire and build everyone else.
Your energy starts with a mental commitment, allowing you to quickly energise and transform a situation.
These are all skills that you can acquire with a little thought and determination.
They don’t require an education or money and you create the opportunities yourself.
With all of these attributes you will be mentally tougher and able to more successfully navigate your way through work and life.
*Paul Lyons is a business leader, adviser and coach enjoying a diverse career across Australia and Asia. He can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared on the Mental Toughness blogsite.
