mental toughness and resilience · 2016. 8. 26. · mental toughness and resilience what is mental...

Mental Toughness and Resilience What is mental toughness? Before we can clearly define mental toughness it is important to recognize what it is not. Mental toughness does not have anything to do with being tough in the macho sense of the word. However, it does involve being tough in the sense of improving confidence and resilience. Mental toughness is best understood as a mindset which describes the default response we make when faced with stressors, pressures or challenges. The 4 C’s of Mental Toughness 1. Control: Involves the extent to which individuals feel in control of their lives and circumstances, as well as how one controls their emotions. 2. Commitment: Describes how committed an individual is to complete set goals. 3. Challenge: The extent to which someone will push the boundaries, embrace change, and accept risk. 4. Confidence: The extent to which people believe in themselves. Developing mental toughness: • Positive thinking • Visualization • Anxiety control • Goal Setting • Attention control There are several methods that can be used to deal with the stresses/difficulties of life and develop mental toughness. A common focus of these methods revolve around the idea of control. Trying to control life’s circumstances and preventing bad things from happening through controlling your responses to bad situations. Your responses then play into the desire to build self-confidence and achieve personal goals. Though many methods have a self-control driven focus, sometimes life cannot be controlled and trying to control it leads to further problems. When this is the case it may be beneficial to seek help in dealing with life’s problems rather than trying to control every aspect of our worlds individually.

Upload: others

Post on 20-Feb-2021

11 views

Category:

Documents

0 download

Report

Download

Embed Size (px):

TRANSCRIPT

MentalToughnessandResilience

Whatismentaltoughness?Beforewecanclearlydefinementaltoughnessitisimportanttorecognizewhatitisnot.Mentaltoughnessdoesnothaveanythingtodowithbeingtoughinthemachosenseoftheword.However,itdoesinvolvebeingtoughinthesenseofimprovingconfidenceandresilience.Mentaltoughnessisbestunderstoodasamindsetwhichdescribesthedefaultresponsewemakewhenfacedwithstressors,pressuresorchallenges.The4C’sofMentalToughness

1. Control:Involvestheextenttowhichindividualsfeelincontroloftheirlivesandcircumstances,aswellashowonecontrolstheiremotions.

2. Commitment:Describeshowcommittedanindividualistocompletesetgoals.3. Challenge:Theextenttowhichsomeonewillpushtheboundaries,embracechange,and

acceptrisk.4. Confidence:Theextenttowhichpeoplebelieveinthemselves.

Developingmentaltoughness:

• Positivethinking• Visualization• Anxietycontrol• GoalSetting• Attentioncontrol

Thereareseveralmethodsthatcanbeusedtodealwiththestresses/difficultiesoflifeanddevelopmentaltoughness.Acommonfocusofthesemethodsrevolvearoundtheideaofcontrol.Tryingtocontrollife’scircumstancesandpreventingbadthingsfromhappeningthroughcontrollingyourresponsestobadsituations.Yourresponsesthenplayintothedesiretobuildself-confidenceandachievepersonalgoals.Thoughmanymethodshaveaself-controldrivenfocus,sometimeslifecannotbecontrolledandtryingtocontrolitleadstofurtherproblems.Whenthisisthecaseitmaybebeneficialtoseekhelpindealingwithlife’sproblemsratherthantryingtocontroleveryaspectofourworldsindividually.