Why would someone want to build Mental Toughness?

There are a number of reasons to improve your Mental Toughness including improving performance, decreasing stress, increasing control over emotional responses, managing change more effectively, overcoming fear, and achieving personal goals.

We currently live in a world where VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) is the new normal. This high pressure world demands high performance every single day.

We can start with the basics of keeping healthy, eating well, exercising, relaxing and having down time to keep our physical body as healthy as possible. However, how do we keep our mental fitness in shape as well? Mental Toughness skills training is a great opportunity to work with a coach to develop these skills.

So, what exactly is “Mental Toughness?”

Mental Toughness describes the mind-set that every person adopts in everything they do. It is closely related to qualities such as character, resilience, grit, etc. Mental Toughness is defined as a personality trait which determines in large part how people deal with challenge, stressors and pressure …. irrespective of prevailing circumstances. (Clough and Strycharczyk 2011)

No matter what role you take in life, adversity comes to all of us and the need to be mentally strong and stay focused is a necessary tool all of us need to master. Having a solid mindset, being focused, being agile and adaptable, and maintaining focus on our goals is what can allow you to achieve significant success.

Many of us face obstacles in our lives. But the question is how do we respond when this adversity strikes. We have a choice to succumb to this pressure, or we can engage in thinking which allows us to engage in effective problem solving.

We have all heard of post-traumatic stress, but few of us have actually heard of post trauma growth. We can grow as a result of adversity. It all depends on how you view the circumstances. Will you take control of your thoughts? Will you remain focused on your goals? Will you grow as a result of your experiences?

When we overcome adversity we have the opportunity to build our confidence levels. We can start engaging in new habits of thinking which allows us to grow and develop.

So how do we start developing Mental Toughness? It can start with understanding how you currently control your emotions, manage challenges, are committed to your goals and have self-confidence. This can be achieved through completing the MTQ48.

The MTQ48 measure comprises four key components of the personality trait of Mental Toughness, known as the 4C’s - Control, Commitment, Challenge and Confidence, and the results indicate a range of Mental Toughness from 1-10 for each of the 4C’s and overall.

Once you have a baseline for your current functioning, dedicating yourself to working on managing your thinking, goal setting, visualising success and managing fear and anxiety is just the start.

So Consider:

What thoughts are getting in the way of your success?

How do you maintain your focus throughout the day?

What are your goals and do you have a plan to achieve them?

What will it look like when you have achieved success?

How do you respond to stressors?

What is your default position when you are under pressure?

Want to know what your current level of Mental Toughness is?

Want to develop your Mental Toughness?

The future is within your Control.

Michelle Bakjac is an experienced Organisational Consultant, Coach, Speaker and Facilitator. As Director of Bakjac Consulting, she is a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a member of Mental Toughness Partners and an MTQ48 accredited Mental Toughness practitioner. Michelle assists individuals and organisations to develop their Mental Toughness to improve performance, behaviour and wellbeing. You can find her at www.bakjacconsulting.com or michelle@bakjacconsulting.com