Being mentally strong is often a choice and something we need to instill in ourselves. It’s not some magical quality that a few of us are lucky to have.
Everyone reaches a point in their lives where their mental strength is tested to the limit. It could be a struggling relationship, trouble with your children, or a boss you don’t like working for.
However, whatever the challenge is, you need to be strong, and start to view things from a different angle, and take quick action if you want to get through this period quickly.
That makes it sound really easy. In truth – it isn’t that easy.
Being mentally strong when you feel like there is no route out is extremely challenging. You need to try and find that extra strength from somewhere to push through.
It’s common for those that are mentally strong to see challenges as something they must overcome, rather than impossible obstacles in their way.
A great example of this is Thomas Edison. When his factory burned down in 1914 he said, “Thank goodness all our mistakes were burned up. Now we can start fresh again.”
Considering it was $23M worth of prototypes his response took incredible mental toughness to want to get up and start from scratch again. He saw the opportunity in the challenge.
Luckily there are habits we can all adopt to improve our mental strength. In this post, we will look at 5 traits of those that are mentally strong. All of which you can start implementing right away.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is probably the most important trait of mental strength, It’s almost impossible to be mentally strong if you don’t have the ability to properly understand and deal with negative emotions and turn them into something positive.
Those moments that test your mental strength are equally testing your EQ. Much like your IQ can be improved, you can also work on your EQ to improve it. In fact, 90% of top performers have high EQs and earn on average $28,000 more each year than those with a lower EQ so it’s definitely something you should want to work on.
Confidence
Mentally strong people are typically confident people. Henry Ford sums it up well, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t – you’re right.”.
Those who are mentally tough follow Ford’s principle that your mentality has a very strong influence on whether you will succeed or not. This is also backed up by a study from the University of Melbourne that states confident people earn higher wages and get promoted more than others.
It’s also important to differentiate between true and false confidence. False confidence is where people try to act confident to hide their insecurities. Whereas mentally tough people project true confidence and have full confidence in their abilities.
Accept Change
Mentally strong people are much better equipped for dealing with change and being flexible when needed. They understand that having a fear of change could be a significant threat to their success.
When the time calls for change they will adapt and build a plan of action so they can deal with the change. The most significant action is actually embracing the change and having the belief that it will be a positive change. Most people see change as a negative, it upsets the norm. Mentally tough people see the opportunity.
Accept Failure
Failure of some capacity is almost guaranteed in life. You can’t wander through life expecting never to fail. It’s how we deal with failure that counts.
Mentally tough people know it’s all part of the process. Nobody ever achieved all of their goals without experiencing failure.
By understanding why you failed, it can put you back on the right path. Failing forces us to think differently and find solutions to problems. The mentally tough will embrace this as an opportunity to improve on their previous ideas.
Positivity
Mentally strong people are inherently positive. They won’t let the relentless barrage of negative news portrayed across the media to get them down. To be mentally tough you won’t get caught up in stuff that you have no control over.
Being positive shifts your mindset as it creates a can-do mentality. Those who are mentally strong believe they can achieve whatever they put their mind to. The concept of whether something can be done or not, changes to how can this be done. Search for solutions and not reasons to say no.
Summary
Being mentally strong is not easy, nor is it something you are given at birth.
However, it is something you can work on and get better at. The 5 key traits outlined in this post show what it takes to become more mentally tough and if you are able to adopt some of these traits your life will change for the better.
Adam Jones writes for The Growth Reactor which is a blog that will help you upgrade your life at start-up speed. The Growth Reactor provides the latest actionable insights and tips on the most popular self-development trends to help you build the right habits to help you achieve all of your goals.
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first appeared on www.pickthebrain.com
Tagged with: get motivated entrepreneur • how to be positive • how to stay motivated • inspirational mindset
