Adversity Doesn’t Break You-It Makes You Stronger

How to build mental toughness?

Sport and life taught me this:
→    Adversity builds mental toughness

So why shouldn’t we add a bit of adversity to our lives?
Just a pinch 🙂
Here’s an exercise to gradually expose yourself to adversity.

1.    To start, pick a small challenge that makes you a little uncomfortable.
But make sure it’s still doable.

For example, let’s say you pick this:
→    Speaking up in a meeting at work

Why?

Because maybe you’re usually quiet.
And you want to challenge yourself.

2.    Alright! Now it’s time to make a simple plan.

How?

By asking yourself these 3 questions:
→    What do I need to do exactly?
→    When and where will I do it?
→    How do I prepare myself?

For example:

→    I’ll introduce myself to two people at the networking event.
→    I’ll do this at the team meeting next Tuesday.
→    I’ll practice what I’ll say in front of a mirror.

Got it?

Let’s move on to the third step.

3.    Now it’s time to face the challenge.
Remember, it’s perfectly normal to feel nervous.
The goal isn’t to be perfect.
The goal is to take that step forward.
So, how do you face it?

Just:
→    Take a deep breath
→    Remind yourself why you’re doing this
→    Execute your plan to the best of your ability
→    Stay present and focus on what you’re doing

And don’t worry about what others might think.
They have other things on their minds.
They’re certainly not thinking what you think they’re thinking
People have their own lives — don’t forget it.

4.    Okay! The challenge is faced.
First, congrats!
Second, take some time to reflect on the experience.
There is no real growth without self-reflection, right?

So, ask yourself:
→    How did it feel to face this challenge?
→    What went well?
→    What could have gone better?
→    What are the lessons I learned from this experience?

5.    Now, if you wanna build real mental toughness, do this:
→    Gradually increase the challenge

Here’s what I mean:
→    When you’re comfortable with that level, just up the challenge

You just need to choose a slightly more difficult challenge.
And repeat the previous 4 steps.

For example, you can go from:
→    Speaking up in a small meeting
to
→    Speaking up in a large one

Simple as that.

I’d love to tell you about a challenge I took on in the past.
It was a challenge in my lovely Dolomites—the mountains in Italy.
But that’s a whole different story…