How To Increase Your Mental Toughness

One big characteristic of a successful entrepreneur is mental toughness. You have to be able to grind through tough times, make tough decisions and fight the urge to be lazy or give up. The problem is, a lot of people (especially these days) tend to not be as mentally tough.

They want a push button software that makes money or someone to just hand them checks without working for it. It's getting out of hand and it's time everyone understand how to be tougher mentally, so that great things can be accomplished in the future.

The Definition Of Mental Toughness:

“The ability to work hard and respond resiliently to failure and adversity; the inner quality to allow people to work hard and stick to their long-term passions and goals.” Another word that helps describe the definition of mental toughness, is grit.

Think about how all the successful people you know of. Do you see any of them as push-overs? I seriously doubt you would. That's because leaders are the ones who are mentally tough and can stay laser focused on their goals while being able to fight temptation, overcome fear, etc.

To overcome all of the challenges along the way will require that grit and mental toughness, which is why those qualities are extremely common in all successful people.

Ways To Increase Your Mental Toughness And Therefore, Your Long Term Success

1. Look at the past as nothing more than valuable experience. 

Successful people learn from their past mistakes as well as the mistakes of others. The goal is to not make the same mistake twice.

You must also learn to let go of things that happened in the past and not dwell on them. Just because you made one or two mistakes, does not mean you are on the wrong path or should give up. It's all part of the journey to your ultimate goals.

Think of past mistakes as training on what doesn't work, so that you know what to do in the future. Whatever happens does not define you.

2. Always take action as if you are in complete control.

The perfect quote for this would be:

“Pray as if God will take care of all; act as if all is up to you.”

– Ignatius

Some people believe God has to do with their fortunes or misfortunes and others believe it's luck. For these people, if they are successful, it's because of good luck. If they aren't successful, it's because of bad luck.

No matter what the case may be or what you believe in, you cannot wait for good luck or a blessing from a higher power to take care of everything for you. You still have to take massive action. Leaders act as if their success or failure is 100% in their control. That is what you must also do.

Instead of worrying about what could happen and wasting your mental energy, focus all your energy on making what you want to happen happen. Those who take consistent, massive action are the ones rewarded in life.

3. Remember to celebrate the success of others.

A lot of people look at success as a competition. In their eyes, there is only so much to go around. But, that is not the case at all. You should be happy when others succeed and congratulate them. We all have only so much mental energy. If we spend it on things like resentment, there won't be as much left over to apply to positive, productive things.

Life is not a competition to see who can make the most money. Don't make it out to be that way. Instead, do what the top successful people do and be supportive of others and congratulate those who succeed.

4. Don't that person who whines and complains all the time.

Whether it is whining, complaining, or even criticizing others, you shouldn't have any part in that. Remember how I said you only have so much mental energy? This is just another example of the negativity people spend their energy on, while taking away from what could be positive or productive.

Complaining is useless because no one is going to listen. Complaining about your situation is basically the same thing as procrastinating from actually making it better. Don't let the negativity fill your mind, instead think about how you can improve the situation.

Your subconscious mind will actually respond to your negativity by making it worse if you allow it. When you're thinking about making statements that count as complaining, criticism, or whining, turn it around into a productive statement that exhibits how you will improve the negative situation into a positive one.

5. Don't worry about things you can't control.

Yet another way to waste mental energy is by worrying about things you can't even control. One reason a lot of leaders or successful people say they don't watch the news is because when you do, you start worrying too much about politics, weather, crime, the “apocalypse”, etc. It's a waste of your time and mental energy.

You cannot affect or control any of those things, so why get caught up in it? If everyone was to stay focused on only their goals and what personal actions they could take to reach them, imagine how successful everyone would be.

6. Be grateful for your achievements and your situation.

Don't waste time worrying about what you don't have or what others have. Be happy knowing that it could be a lot worse and you are still following your dreams and making progress everyday. As an entrepreneur, whether you've become wealthy yet or not, be grateful that you are on your way there.

To recharge all your mental energy batteries, try to feel good about yourself.

Related: Gratefulness Could Be Your Best Strategy For Success

7. Don't try to impress anyone but yourself.

When you be yourself and stop trying to impress others or be someone you aren't, that's when you start forming genuine relationships with people. Whether it's friends, your target audience, your business partners, etc., they want to see the real you.

Real relationships are from being yourself and not from what kind of cars you have, how much money you have, how big your house is, etc. People that care about those things that you have aren't genuine and shouldn't be part of your life.

Impressing everyone else is always going to be a losing battle that will waste away your productive mental energy, so focus on what you really want and who you really are.

Conclusion

You only have some much mental energy and if you can learn to use it on the right things, any goal can be reached. Learning to increase your mental toughness to avoid spending your mental energy on things that will have a negative impact on your life will be one of the most important things you can do to help yourself become successful.