I recently published a post about the words that most portrayed the sense of mental toughness for me, they were measured, resolute, courageous and positive and I asked for other people’s opinions on the words that resonated for them. Thank you to everyone that contributed for your generous thoughts and time in responding and commenting.
Interestingly there were some standouts with ‘courageous’ and ‘persistent’ the most popular although calm and considered if described as the same meaning would together be the top word. Other popular choices were competent, optimistic and resilient .
However there was a diverse range of choices with 25 people picking 30 different words and in addition some using phrases such as ‘strength of mind’, ‘art of survival’ and a mantra ‘I can face today’.
The key learning was that being and appearing to be, calm, measured and considered in a highly charged or difficult situation is critically important.
Being sufficiently courageous to be able to make the tough decisions in a crisis and persistent enough to keep on going and keep on trying ‘Don’t Give Up‘ was also deemed critical.
Disciplined along with confident and resilient were other popular words -confidence and resilience being the two ‘survive and thrive‘ traits that make up the Clough Strycharczyk definition of mental toughness.
So, in summary mental toughness comes from being sufficiently calm and resolute to be able to resist being ‘broken’ as well as courageous enough to take the tough options or decisions when required.