Mental Strength:

Condition your Mind, Acheive your Goals

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Chapter 1: What is Mental Strength?

In this book we'll be examining the concept of mental strength. We'll be looking at how we can strengthen our minds, and how we can utilise that strength to achieve what we want in life. Before we go any further, we need to clearly define exactly what we mean by mental strength.

We probably all have some definition of strength in our minds, but we will need a common definition that we can work with throughout this book. The dictionary I keep next to my desk defines 'strength' as 'the capability to exert power'. The key part of this definition is the word 'power'. Therefore, to further our understanding of what strength is, we need to more clearly define power. The same dictionary defines power as 'the ability to cause things to happen'. We could therefore define strength as 'the capability to cause things to happen'.

When talking about physical strength, this capability to cause things to happen will manifest itself in physical ways: a weightlifter lifting a large weight, a sprinter setting a new record time, a boxer landing a knockout punch, etc. In these physical examples, the athletes all have the capability to cause things to happen. We would therefore class those athletes as being physically strong.

In this book we are not talking about physical strength, but about mental strength. However, there are many similarities. In all of the preceding examples of physical strength, some kind of resistance was overcome. The weight was difficult for the weightlifter to move, but that resistance was overcome and the weight was lifted. It was difficult for the sprinter to run faster than anyone had ever done previously, but he did. The boxer's opponent was doing his utmost to stop the boxer from winning, but the boxer overcame his opponent's resistance and won the bout. As our sportsmen strived to achieve their goals, something was in their way. There was a resistance.

For strength to manifest itself there is always a resistance to be overcome. The weightlifter can't apply his strength without some weights to lift; the sprinter can't apply his speed without a time to beat; and the boxer can't utilise his punching skills unless he has an opponent to fight.

For our purposes, the dictionary definition is not complete as it contains no mention of resistance. All our athletes used their physical strength to overcome a physical resistance (a weight, a required speed, an opponent). A reasonable definition of physical strength would therefore be 'physical strength is the ability to overcome physical resistance and hence cause things to happen'.

We are now one step away from our definition of mental strength. You'll see as we progress through this book that the human body and mind are inseparably linked. Many of the principles that apply to physical development also hold true for mental development. I think we can therefore define mental strength in the following way:

Mental strength is the ability to overcome mental resistance and cause things to happen.

To make use of this definition, we need to fully understand what is meant by both 'things' and 'mental resistance'.

If mental strength is the ability to overcome mental resistance and cause things to happen, then the 'things' in our definition must be the things we want to happen and the things we want to achieve. In the following chapters we'll look at how important it is to clearly define the things we want. For now it is sufficient to understand that the things we are talking about are the things that you personally wish to achieve in life.

It's important to make it clear that we're talking about the things you want to achieve in life; not the things that others will try to convince you that you want to achieve. It's not about the things that advertising, your friends, your parents, your school, society, the prevailing fashions etc. tell you that you should want. It's about what you truly want to achieve as an individual!

Some people want lots of money; others just want financial security. Some people want a big house in the country; others want to travel around the world. Some people want peace and serenity; others want adrenalin and excitement. We're all individuals and what makes one person very happy will make another miserable.

What we want, and our views on what makes those things desirable, will undoubtedly vary. The key thing is to ensure that we have a clear vision of what things we personally want to achieve (more on this later). Whatever we want from life, there is a gap between deciding what we want and then actually achieving it. The first part of this gap is mental resistance.

So, what is resistance? As we have already discussed, a physical resistance is something that needs to be overcome with physical strength if an athlete is going to achieve the things they want. Because this book is about mental strength, we really need to examine the nature of mental resistance. We'll be expanding and building upon our understanding of mental strength and mental resistance as we progress throughout this book. However, to get us started let's examine one of the most important and immediate aspects of mental resistance.

I can guarantee that you're already familiar with mental resistance, even if you've never used that specific term before. Ever lounged around in bed when you know you should have been up and about half an hour ago? Ever had an important task to do, and put it off by procrastinating? Ever really wanted to do something, but talked yourself out of it? Yep, me too! The lazy, self-doubting, fearful or negative thoughts that you experience on those occasions are mental resistance.

Mental resistance is the thoughts, feelings and beliefs that stand between you and your goals. It's that negative voice in your head that can prevent you from attempting, and therefore achieving, all the things you want in life. We'll discuss why these thoughts occur and cover their nature and role in the next chapter. For now, all we need to understand is what mental resistance is.

You'd like to try a new activity, but don't begin because you're sure you'll be terrible at it. That negative belief is a form of mental resistance.

You love to sing and would like to eventually turn professional, but you never sing in public because you fear criticism. That fear of criticism is mental resistance.

You've trained hard for a sporting event, but on arriving at the tournament you spot a well-known player and convince yourself that the best you can hope for is second place.

Writing yourself off before you even start is mental resistance.

You'd love to apply for your dream job, but you fear that you may not be talented enough to do the actual job, so you don't apply. Feeling that you lack talent and the ability to develop your talents is a form of mental resistance.

Starting to get the idea? Whenever we experience a thought or belief that comes between us and the things we want to achieve, that is mental resistance.

All of the following are examples of mental resistance:

• 'I'm not talented enough to try that.'

• 'I'll do it when I've got a bit more money behind me.'

• 'I'll love to try that, but I'd be embarrassed if I made a mess of it.'

• 'I'm too old.'

• 'I'm too young.'

• 'I'm not clever enough.'

• 'I'm not skilled enough.'

• 'People like me don't do that kind of thing.'

• 'It all seems too complicated for me.'

• 'I'd love to do that for a living, but I doubt I'd be able to make enough money.'

• 'I know I could never be as good as they are.'

• 'I wish I'd taken that up when I was younger; it's too late now.'

• 'I'm hopeless at that kind of thing.'

• 'I'm too scared.'

There are some other aspects to mental resistance that we'll cover later on in this book. However, to get us started we can define mental resistance in the following way:

Mental resistance is any negative thought, feeling or belief that stands between you and your goals.

The negative voice of mental resistance can certainly sap our energy and prevent us getting what we want from life. It is therefore quite easy to conclude that mental resistance is inherently bad. However, the paradox is that mental resistance can also help us to achieve our goals!

We're often told that negative thinking is something to be avoided and that we should always ensure our heads are filled with as many positive thoughts as possible. And while that's true, if we are to progress in any area of our lives, it is important that we experience negative thoughts and mental resistance. Confused? That's OK. Things will become a lot clearer in the next chapter.

Read Introduction | Read Chapter 2

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