Mental Toughness-Part 1

  Have you wondered, like I do, why some individuals are able to persist, persevere, or have the ability to proceed despite various known barriers or obstacles in their path? Some might refer to this as mental toughness or just plain perseverance. Just think a moment about the world of sports and some the accomplishments by such well-known names as Peyton Manning-overcoming physical injury, Sidney Crosby-his history of concussions, Tom Brady-his age, Michael Phelps- all his Olympic gold medals and Dana Torres-swimming accomplishments at her age. Athletes illustrate being able to push through and endure pain while still continuing their sport. Time and time again we view a tired, exhausted, injured, or out of breath, athlete not giving up but still persevering, regardless of the circumstances or the impairment. Even though only a movie, the Stallone “Rocky” film story depicts and illustrates what happens in athletic competition when a beat up and bloody Rocky all of a sudden finds inner strength to conquer and eventually defeat his opponent or foe. However, in real life, we have the real McCoy with the classic Mohammed Ali-Joe Frazier, or Marvin Haggler-Sugar Ray Leonard boxing matches, where each of them gets pummeled and bloodied round after round during their many fierce battles.

Of course, others like Steve Jobs with his cancer or Oprah Winfrey with her poverty also have demonstrated mental toughness or perseverance with their highly successful careers to say the least. It’s obvious that persistence and overcoming barriers is not limited to the athlete alone. Make no mistake about it that many individuals famous or not, in many walks of life, have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments and have overcome the odds. We can certainly call them mentally tough too.

It has taken me a while to have discovered, age plays a role, in what it takes to have achieved and have accomplished at extreme levels. It is also become obvious to us that some people seem to have what it takes-mental toughness, while in others it appears to be lacking. It is also clear that mental toughness cannot be simply explained by genetics or heredity alone. Once again it’s that old nature versus nurture paradigm that comes into play. I believe the development of mental toughness or perseverance is obviously related to nature, nurture, culture and environment. It is also true, that means that learning plays a significant part and is associated with its development.

Stay tuned as more to follow. In the meantime, keep moving, smiling, laughing, bonding, loving and appreciating.