Mental toughness is the ability to push forward when you are in a difficult situation. How well you will perform under pressure and stressful situation determines your mental toughness. It is often used in the field of sports and the military but it is for everyone, the office goer, the business man, the home maker, the student. It is a trait which comes handy in our life.
Some are born with it and for some it has to be consciously practiced to increase the level of mental toughness. Now let us see some of the traits of a mentally tough person.
Level headed
Whatever happens, a mentally tough person never loses his composure and rational thinking capability. He is not swayed by emotions. A sportsman has to be level headed when he is on the verge of losing a game, a soldier has to be level headed facing bullets, a employee has to be level headed when he is facing immense job pressure, a business man has to be level headed when facing severe business down turn, in a relation one has to be level headed when there is misunderstanding enough to end the relation. Such situations test you and stretch you to your limit, it is easy to lose composure and bring out your inherent character.
Stress tolerance
Taking major decisions in life especially which is going to change the direction of your life and you will be entering unknown territory, can create a lot of stress. For example if you decide to leave your well secured and high paying job in mid age and start a business. It is a major decision and a lot of 'ifs and buts' clog the mind. Most people pause here and fail to take the final leap. These situations will decide your future. To overcome the stress, a certain level of mental toughness is required.
Energy and persistence
Here both mental and physical energy comes into play. To sustain the energy level over an extended period of time to complete a task requires mental toughness. All of you must have heard of soldiers doing 40-50 kms marches with heavy backpacks over undulating territory. It is a long haul which is not going to end soon. Sustaining the whole distance, keep up with the fellow soldiers, motivating others on the way who are on the verge of giving up, keeping a positive framework of mind all through, that never give up attitude – all these take mental toughness and persistence that too for a considerable length of time.
Thoroughness
You might think that what thoroughness has got to do with mental toughness. But there is a relation. A mentally tough person will go into the finer details of a task. For him it is not about completing the task only, it is about doing it in the best possible way. They don’t believe in practice makes a man perfect but perfect practice makes a man perfect. All successful people have an eye for detail. Apple phones are so much popular and in demand because the customer knows that every detail has been taken care of by the company before it moves out of the warehouse.
Accept challenges
A mentally tough person will never shy away from taking challenges, be it in a task or life. If it is in his field of interest then he will surely accept those challenges and try to push the boundary. They have this inbuilt confidence to try new things that challenge them to do new things and doing existing things in a better way. These people are always ready to get out of the comfort zone.
Focused
A mentally tough person is always focused and has a one track mind. For him his task in important and the rest is unnecessary. That doesn’t mean he is selfish, but he is aware about what is necessary for him and what is not. He is just indifferent to things that do not affect him. For example if his pet dies he is not indifferent, but if his microwave gets defective then he is indifferent. If he is trolled he is indifferent but if his friend is sick then he is not indifferent. He just knows better what his priorities in life are and focuses accordingly. Smaller things cannot distract him.
There is not set formula like math by which you can develop mental toughness but you can try these things to slowly increase you mental toughness. In present day life the benchmark of success is constantly being pushed up and it is becoming even more difficult to achieve it. Our expectations are going up and catching up with it is becoming more difficult. This makes the requirement of mental toughness all the more important. So we need to keep challenging ourselves and that too by removing the motivating factors from our life. Then only in the real sense we will be able to achieve the required level of mental toughness.
I do not know such people.