From time to time, team members will share their views stimulated from a piece by an industry thought leader. Here, our CEO, Lisa Maier, discusses an Inc article by one of her favorite authors, Jeff Haden, “9 Things Mentally Tough People Always Do.”
I have been interested in the concept of ‘mental toughness’ ever since I learned that the number one quality associated with longevity is resilience. And then I started hearing more about this word ‘grit’ and recently when I interviewed Jeb Blount, the author of the bestselling book, Fanatical Prospecting, I heard of this quality as being associated with success in sales.
So our good friend Jeff Haden first assures us of something crucial: mental toughness is not a quality you either do or do not have; instead, it is something that you can learn. THAT is good news indeed.
Here is how he suggests you learn this critical trait:
- Always assume you are in control. And take action based on that belief.
- Make a lot fewer choices. Reserve your mental energy each day for what is important since we all have a limited mental energy to focus on things like making choices. In fact, he says, “choices are the enemy of mental toughness” so it is better to just eliminate the choices for things you want to get done, to totally take willpower out of the equation.
- Put aside things you have no ability to impact. Like physical strength, we have limited mental strength, so don’t waste yours on things outside of your control.
- See the past as valuable training and nothing more. Learn from mistakes of yourself and others and then let go of them. “The past is just training; it doesn’t define you.”
- Actively celebrate the success of others. Be abundant in your mindset instead of seeing success as a zero-sum game. The world is as we perceive it, so make it big enough for all of us to achieve ‘awesomeness’ and you will see that it will expand to that size, and be a great place to live.
- Never allow yourself to complain. Or criticize. Words have power, use them wisely.
- Don’t try to impress others; impress yourself instead. This is so powerful it is beyond my ability to convey its importance.
- Consistently review your long term goals. Be there mentally even as you are present here now.
- Count your blessings. Before you go to sleep and upon awakening, get in the habit of quickly acknowledging to yourself three things for which you are grateful. It is amazing how this will change your total orientation to what is possible.
I want to live a long and happy life, and I sure do want everyone I associate with to have the same experience. After all, why wouldn’t we all want to live as a mentally tough giant among other mentally tough giants? It’s a no brainer path to success. And as Zig says, “See you at the top.”
