Mentally Tough

If you are in sales, or a business owner, you have to have strategies to stay mentally tough. In fact, in 20 years of selling and 10 years of being an entrepreneur, I really believe that is the “one” thing that separates the great from the good.

Here are the strategies I have taken from the people I find mentally tough.

 

Line in Sand

Those who are mentally tough all seem to have a “Line in Sand” moment; something in their life caused them so much frustration, pain or headache that they refuse to be in that situation ever again. It is a “negative motivation” for sure, but like two magnets facing the same direction, it drives them forward as much as anything else in their life.

Jim Rohn tells a great story about this called the “The Girls Scout,” where he couldn’t afford to buy cookies from a charming little Girl Scout who was all smiles and laughter. People who are mentally tough have those moments that “resolve” themselves to be more than where they are. It is visceral, powerful and lasting experiences like this that change people’s lives and in turn change the lives of all the people they effect.

 

Powerful Questions

The next thing that people who are mentally tough do is they ask very smart questions that allow them to be resilient and powerful when tough things happen. They ask themselves things like,

“How can we make this the best thing that has ever happened to me?”

“What is the best thing that can come out of this?”

“So what, now what?”

“What is the solution here?”

“What can we learn from all this?”

“What is God trying to teach me here?”

“How can this make me better?”

And, my favorite . . .  “How do I use this to live my purpose?”

These are all very powerful questions, life changing questions. People that are mentally tough control their focus by controlling the questions their minds are focused on and in doing so spend energy on the most powerful ways for them to spend their energy. This becomes a self-affirming reciprocal relationship w/ their own well-being.  .  . meaning, they ask powerful questions, get powerful answers, get better results, build their confidence of what they can handle and then rinse and repeat.

 

Big Whys, Big Vision

All you need to do to understand this is think about our greatest generation. The Greatest Generation - they were and are the toughest generation most of us will ever know for one very simple and clear reason.  Their “why” and vision of the world they were creating was bigger than all of ours.

They rallied an entire world together to beat a villain and restore humanity to an entire world. Their stories of suffering in the cause or the sacrifices they readily made are so great and revered, we can only hope that we have just a sample of that courage and power. I don’t think they have anything else other than such a great “why” and “vision” that they became so mentally tough they seem to dwarf generations they didn’t know suffering, tyranny or a world war.

The point is, know your “why” and vision and know what you would be willing to die for.  What is so great to you that you would readily hand-down your life for the chance for it to live?

 

Rituals to Recover

We all have our week moments, the times when we question our God, the love of our family, our business or what we are selling. People who are mentally tough have great rituals to recover. Mentally tough people train regularly, meaning they are always working on things that make them mentally tough and it is ritualistic in their lives.

 

Here are some examples:

1.   Habitually visit and practice their Faith

2.   Habitually visit and work on their physical fitness

3.   Habitually visit and review the things that drive their “why,” family, charities, or other clear pictures of the who and what is motivating them

4.  Habitually read and listen to things that affirm their well-being and execution of their vision. Books about positive Psychology, stories of triumph and or classics that reinforce their values and goals.

5.  Have a Support Circle, where they strategically build relationships with others that have goals, dreams and drive that is as great as or beyond theirs.

6.  Regularly act as both formally and informally as mentors, they seek aggressively and by design people they want to have mentor them in their lives.

Being mentally tough is a culmination of habits.  If you execute them, you can improve your mental toughness.