Mental toughness is the ability to face adversity, failure, and negative events without a loss in effort, positive attitude or enthusiasm. Individuals who display excellence in mental toughness do not allow circumstances to dictate their reactions, they have an uncanny ability to be the best version of themselves regardless of the circumstances they find themselves in. Mental toughness, or grit, is recognized as the most important factor in success, both in sport and in life. Too often we believe we were either born and raised mentally tough, or were not. However, just like all things in life, mental toughness can be cultivated, improved, and optimized by anyone. A massive survey of athletes and coaches of the university and professional level identify the mental aspect of ALL sports to be roughly as important as physical skill. Now think about the amount of time we commit to the mental aspects of sport or mental aspects of life for that matter. Certainly, physical improvements for sport spill into our lives and give us many daily useable collateral benefits, however, the mental improvements will have just as large an impact on sport as in any mental challenge we face in life.

Just like the start to improvement in anything, the best thing to do is to assess where you currently stand and identify exactly what needs more improvement. I have included a document as a self assessment of Mental Toughness by James Loehr, which is the most complete assessment tool I have come across. Click HERE to fill it out! There are 7 major aspects of Mental Toughness:

Self Confidence - Questions: 1,8,15,22,29,36
Negative Energy Control - Questions: 2,9,16,23,30,37
Attention Control (Focus) - Questions: 3,10,17,24,31,38
Visualization & Imagery - Questions: 4,11,18,25,32,39
Motivation - Questions: 5,12,19,26,33,40
Positive Energy Control - Questions: 6,13,20,27,34,41
Attitude Control - Questions: 7,14,21,28,35,42

Score key for each element of Mental Toughness:

Total all 6 questions for each element.
26-30 = Excellent Skill, 20-25 = Room for Improvement & < 19 = Needs Special Attention

Self Confidence: This may individually be one of the most potent predictors of success. The thoughts and images you have of yourself are a direct reflection of what you self perceive as your chances of success, in sport and in life.

Way To Improve- Increase your physical strength and endurance levels- there is nothing that will increase both your self image and self confidence like becoming more physically fit and strong.

Negative Energy Control: Controlling negative emotions like FEAR, ANGER, RAGE, & TEMPER is essential to success. The key here is to perceive difficult situations as challenges which will develop valuable resilience and mental strength rather than perceiving these events as threats or frustrating problems. There may be many things in sport and life we cannot control but we can ALWAYS control our reaction to any situation, no matter how bad your perceive it. See “Mans Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl, where Dr. Frankl relays his story of EXTREME inner strength in Aushuitz during WWII. Jocko Willink uses the word “good” for all situations which appear bad by the Navy Seals he trains. Jocko contends bad situations are “good” because they give stone to chisel skills we wouldn’t be able to sharpen in any other way.

Way To Improve- Big 1st step is assess where you currently are (Click HERE) Great ways to improve are Wim Hof breathing techniques and meditation. Understand failure is never fatal and success is never final.

Attention Control (Focus): The ability to maintain and control focus with the task at hand. The ability to “tune in” to what is important and “tune out” what is unimportant. This is a skill which must be cultivated and practiced. Focus is directly related to Negative & Positive Energy Control.

Way To Improve- Practicing concentration, positive energy boosting, and negative energy reduction; “parking” problems and negative thoughts. As with many of these training/improvement techniques, meditation will significantly improve focus & attention control.

Visualization & Imagery: is simply the ability to think in pictures. Many studies have shown those individuals who mentally practice successfully performing a sport skill in their head through detailed mental imagery improved that skill as much as those physically practicing the skill. This is the key: Visualization is translating optimal mental depictions into physical performance. The central nervous system literally cannot differentiate between deeply rooted visualization and an actual physical event.

Way To Improve- Practice producing mentally detailed situations of performing a physical skill perfectly with ALL SENSES. Use pictures and videos. Practice vivid, VERY VIVID, visualization of your success.

Motivation: First in importance of these 7 mental toughness variables. Motivation is energy! Self-motivation is the pinnacle of instant acquisition of motivation.

Ways to Improve- Set meaningful goals, set yourself up for a steady diet of small goal success every day. But, don’t forget to manage failure properly. The master has failed more times than the amateur has even attempted. Embrace failure as an absolute necessary and productive part of both sport and life.

Positive Energy Control: An acquired skill which is essential to becoming energized through fun, joy, determination, positivity, and team spirit. Without positive energy peak performance is not possible. Energy from JOY & FUN! Never forget the original joy which led you to your sport regardless of how high you feel the stakes are... "Pressure is something you put on yourself"

Ways To Improve- Becoming more positive in life and sport simply pours more happiness and joy into your life. Positivity is a perspective which is entirely under your control. See thoughts as challenging opportunities rather than problems. DO WHATEVER YOU CAN DO TO FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOU! Physical fitness always helps.

Attitude Control: Attitude reflects habits of thought. Controlling your thinking, controls your attitude and this control develops emotional control, focus, and positive energy control. All elements of a champion in sport and life.

Ways to improve: Practice gratitude, write 3 specific and different things you appreciate in your life which have brought you a sense of joy, accomplishment or pride. BE POSITIVE! Once again, in a world where many variables are out out of our control we can always chose to be positive and optimistic despite our circumstances or challenges.

Summary of Mental Toughness: Often we believe mentally tough professional athletes were just gifted and born more mentally strong. This is dismissive thinking which actually undermines our own ability and motivation to improve in these areas. We accept practice makes improvement in physical skills but may discount the ability to improve our mental toughness. Top athletes and coaches conversely agree most sports require as much MENTAL SKILL as PHYSICAL SKILL, however, there is far more priority placed on physical skill unfortunately. The first step to improving the mental aspects of your game and your life is to assess your current mental toughness skill set. Take the self test (attached here) of the 7 mental skills. Identify your largest weakness or weaknesses and get busy improving via the recommendations listed here. If you want an even more detailed examination of Mental Toughness I recommend reading, Mental Toughness Training For Sport: by James Loehr. I truly believe their is no greater skill to improve than an individual’s mental toughness. This skill of mental toughness and resilience will set you up to deal with all of life’s challenges more effectively. Remember, life will throw you MANY challenges, being mentally prepared for them is one of the single greatest gifts you can give yourself.

Dr. Brad Murray

~ helping you be better than yesterday.