Do You Have Mental Toughness?

The human brain has 100 billion neurons, each neuron connected to 10 thousand other neurons. Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe.

Michio Kaku

What causes you to be amazed? I am often awed by the wonder of the human brain. It is so complex and powerful. And, I love how each human being has one. 😊 No one is left out. Each person’s brain is unique and full of potential.

It also inspires me to make the most of what has been given to me with my own brain and in others. How do we continue to steward well this treasure that is a part of each of us?

I was talking to a leader who is building a business. She had just been through a season with a project that required long hours and extra energy. She knew that the effort put into this project would be worth it, but it was also a crucible moment for her. It was an incredibly challenging time, but she persevered through because of a belief that the benefit would be worth it.

I was reading an article, How Sports Psychologist Define Mental Toughness, by Alex Hutchinson. Hutchinson stated, “Mental toughness, according to Bédard-Thom (researcher at University of Laval in Canada) is a psychological resource that helps you to achieve challenging goals when faced with a stressor that puts your success in doubt.” I have found that research in sports psychology can also give insight for other areas in our lives where we push our brains. Leaders are often in similar situations like athletes where they are driving through challenges.

Through Bedard-Thom’s research, she has defined 3 areas of mental skills development to improve mental toughness: set challenging goals, improve self-control, and improve self-efficacy. Let’s look more deeply at each of these.

Set Challenging Goals

Setting challenging goals is easy to say but is an art to put into practice. Hutchinson in his article states that individuals should set “sufficiently difficult targets and re-evaluate them frequently.” This reminds me of SMARTY goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistically High, Timeline, Yours. We can all set goals, but to develop mental toughness the goal must push us outside our comfort zone. What is interesting about Bedard-Thom’s study is that it included challenging goals for the participants but also added an outside stressor.

Leaders are often really good at setting challenging goals. But true mental toughness gets tested when an outside stressor is added. This is where a leader can emerge or get stuck. It is also where the other two mental skills are an important part of the equation for mental toughness.

Improve Self-Control

When people think of self-control, I often see the behavior of “gritting it out.” This includes working harder and striving. However, when making suggestions to develop self-control, Bedard-Thom suggestions might surprise some. Hutchinson in his article writes that athletes should “consider mindfulness training and learn to avoid self-control-depleting activities before important training and competition (what you might call a mental taper).”

For our brains to be in the best state for self-control, we need our brains to be at rest. Think about it: Don’t we all respond best when our brains are in a state of peace instead of racing? The key with self-control is knowing that the environment doesn’t have to determine your state of mind. It is possible to learn to be in a high velocity environment and still trigger our brains to be at rest.

But this takes practice with skills that have been researched to help the brain slow down. And it is also finding the activities that work for you. I recommend the book, Rare Leadership, which provides practical ways to do this through neuroscience techniques. (I will be sharing more about these techniques in a future article.) We also can learn that our brains need a rhythm of rest. If we are always pushing ourselves on full cylinders, we are not going to have the energy resources to be our best when those unexpected stressors hit.

Improve Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy is belief in yourself and your ability to exert control to attain your goals. If you don’t think you’ll attain your goal, you are not going to do it. I think that self-efficacy is a foundational skill for reaching potential.

Hutchinson in his article stated that Bedard-Thom recommends “positive self-talk.” Whenever I bring up a suggestion to my daughters that connects to positive self-talk, I get the eye rolls. I find this is common for many people. Our brains are pulled towards the negative. Truly practicing positive self-talk takes a perseverance to overcome what often feels more comfortable, which is the negative. However, to persevere with positive self-talk can build a new habit in your mind that can pay long term dividends towards mental toughness.

A resource that I recommend for developing positive self-talks is the book, Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking, by Jon Acuff.

Summary

I am challenged by this statement by Hutchinson, “mental toughness isn’t a stable characteristic that some people have and others don’t. Instead, it’s a process that kicks in when we’re struggling to achieve something in the face of difficulty—and we can improve that process.” So, are you ready to join me in developing mental toughness?