Developing Mental Toughness

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Mental toughness is an attitude to whatever is going on. Sometimes we just have to "tough it out". This is not a bad thing, it builds endurance. And as life is more of a marathon, than a sprint, endurance is a fantastic characteristic to have developed.

Everybody needs it. A mountaineer is a great example. It takes amazing fortitude and "mental toughness" to climb a mountain. It also takes preparation and planning. But once you are on the way, you just have to keep putting one foot in front of another and after a while... you are at the summitt.

In coaching there is a lot of talk about "visions" and "goals" and they are all well and good. But sometimes on a day to day basis, we just have to tough out the situation and know that it will pass and it will be worth it.

The good thing about this is that it is an accumlative process. You don't go back to square one with each new process, you get to build on what you learned last time.

This is actually a Bible principle, see here..

Romans 5:3-6
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us....