“concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory”, said bill russell. In fact, mental toughness is the most important ingredient that is very much necessary for achieving goals in life because during the course of your journey towards your life’s goals, chances of you facing bumps are very high. Not only that, this trait will help you acquire resilience, determination and willpower so you can persist till you reach your goals.
Mental toughness gives you the ability and strength to push despite opposition and hurdles. So, it is imperative that you must try cultivating the trait. But before that, let us understand what we mean by mental toughness.
A few experts firmly restrict this attribute to the sports field. But a number of other experts believe that this attribute pervades every area of our life. ” according to these researchers, this trait consists of a few critical components and they are challenge, control, commitment and confidence.
As far as “challenge,” the first component, is concerned, you must view challenges, not as obstacles, but as opportunities. The crux of “control,” the second component, is to believe that you have complete control over your destiny and life. ‘confidence’ is believing in your capabilities.
Researches prove that the attribute has a genetic link. At the same time, experts suggest that people can learn and strengthen their mental toughness as well. But how can you cultivate this trait? 1.
Believe that you have the ability for achieving your goals a study conducted in 2002 revealed that top performers and especially, elite athletes always possessed extreme self-belief. This means that they firmly believe that they can succeed. In other words, if you believe in yourself and keep encouraging yourself positively, you can achieve your goal regardless of what it is.
2. Prefer intrinsic motivations to external rewards external rewards like popularity, money, etc. Are certainly nice but intrinsic motivations are better because they come from the “within.
When you love doing things, you will push harder and try to perform better. In fact, mentally tough people love doing things in which they are interested and their success in their tasks come from intrinsic motivations and not because of external rewards. 3.
Mentally tough people do not get upset when they encounter setbacks mentally tough people rebound even when they encounter setbacks and while doing so, they move ahead with stronger determination and resolve. 4. They are self-directed this means that they do not let things happen.
Instead, they focus on creating the life they like to lead. They set goals and take appropriate action for going behind their goals and achieving them. In other words, they learn the process of setting goals and pursue the goals relentlessly.
5. They keep their focus even if there are distractions distractions are bound to be there in everyone’s life but mentally tough people do not allow them to play spoil-sport to their focus. Remember that it is impossible to always have everything right.
Even if other things need your attention, you must focus only on your goals and work towards achieving them. 6. They are committed commitment is a major ingredient that helps in cultivating mental toughness.
Remember the words of winston churchill who said, “success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.