Tag Archives: mental strength

Routines for the win

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You know what you should be doing. But knowing and doing are two different things. Good routines bridge that gap.

Look around. You already have tools for success.

Maybe it’s books on your shelf. A notebook in your drawer. Exercise gear in storage.

Stop waiting for perfect conditions.

Pick three things that matter most to you. Make them as automatic as brushing your teeth. No thinking required. No mood checks. Just do them.

Set up spaces that make success easy.

A reading corner. A writing desk. A workout area.

When the space is ready, you’re more likely to show up.

Make it non-negotiable. Stop negotiating with yourself every day. Decide once, then follow through.

Treat your important routines like appointments you can’t break.

Now take action – pick one routine. Set up the space. Do it tomorrow morning. No excuses.

Small steps create big changes.

The power of taking on difficult challenges

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I ran 31km yesterday as training for the Sydney marathon (49 days to go). It was a miserable day; cold, wet, and windy – very un-Sydney-like.

I had three and a half hours to think about why we should all push ourselves to do difficult things.

When we take on tough tasks, we grow stronger in our minds. The muscle grows the more we challenge it.

Doing hard things also makes us feel more sure of ourselves. We prove that we can overcome obstacles, making us more confident in other areas of life.

Mental toughness increases. These long runs are small victories on the path to the big day in front of large crowds on the streets of the city. I know I can do it on the day if I’ve put the work in week to week – it all compounds.

Want to set your own challenges? Start small and work your way up. Set clear goals and keep track of your progress. Remember, the hardest things often bring the best rewards in the end.

How do you respond to discomfort and hardship?

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Discomfort and hardship are a state of mind in the society we live in today. We generally lead very protected lives in the western world – comfortable, secure and with a full stomach most of the time – and don’t have much of a sense of what going without things is really like. There are many in the world that do suffer from extremes of poverty and very poor living conditions, lacking basics of food and shelter, but this is not about them. This is about people who get angry and annoyed if their wifi isn’t 100% efficient or complain at the length of the queue in their favourite coffee shop.

How you respond to any discomfort or hardship in your life can be definitive as you develop. If you learn your craft, whatever that might be, in a tough school, the chances are you’re going to have paid attention and worked hard to master whatever the craft you were learning as the consequences of not doing so would be unbearable. The best examples of this tend to be the armed forces colleges around the world producing elite fighters but there are also examples in all areas, such as musicians, businessmen and women and engineers and so on. The overriding factor is that high percentages of these people at the top of their game had to overcome some obstacles that would have put off many people much earlier in the learning process and it was this ability to overcome challenges, whether physical, mental or both, that got them to the top.

When there were no cars and public transport was minimal and inconsistent at best, people thought nothing of walking for miles and miles to do everyday things. And in the years before this, people ate what they killed and if they didn’t kill, they didn’t eat. I heard a story about someone the other day who sleeps outdoors at least one night a month to ensure they don’t lose their ability to handle cold weather. The mental fortitude that this kind of thing breeds has a habit of spreading into other areas of your life and I would recommend thinking about your own life and looking for ways to encourage some discomfort or hardship and see what gains you can achieve as a result.

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Ian Mountford is a Strategy Coach providing motivation and guidance to entrepreneurs, wannabe or fully-fledged. He draws from his own experience of building businesses from the ground up and spending many years helping clients to consistently achieve their goals and aspirations. Ian works with clients face-to-face and internationally.