Conscious effort, dedication, and everyday practice will develop your mental strength. Here are the exercises that will help you work out your mental muscles.
Establishing goals
The human brain is inclined to set and achieve goals. Don’t just set one goal but set many short-term goals. And when you start achieving each goal you start gaining additional confidence in your ability to succeed.
Set yourself for success
You can modify your environment to easily remove the temptations in life. If you want to start eating healthier fill your pantry with all the healthy food items. When you set yourself for success, you don’t exhaust your mental energy in resisting the urge of doing things you should not.
Tolerate discomfort for the greater good
When someone faces discomforts they opt for unhealthy measures rather than confronting the problems. The short-term solutions only create bigger problems in the future.
For instance, binge watching your favorite show or drinking a glass of wine. Don’t escape from discomfort; run when you feel tired, plan a budget even though it makes you anxious. It builds your confidence in the ability to conquer difficult things.
Reframe the negative thoughts
As much realistic, you need to try to be optimistic in the same manner. Reframe the catastrophic thoughts as everyone has a bad day or rough patch in life. When you think this will never happen start thinking I will improve my chances. Have a more realistic expectation from life and try to manage your bad days by being optimistic.
Balance emotions with logic
Best decisions are the fruit of logic and emotions. If all your decisions are emotional you are actually spending everything on things that make you happy and will leave nothing for your retirement years. At the same time, logical decisions will keep you away from pleasure, love, and leisure.
Before making a decision write down the pros and cons of the decision to move forward with it. This way you boost the logical part of your brain and even balance your emotions accordingly.
Strive to accomplish your purpose
To not go astray from your path you need to have a purpose. Know why you want to earn more money or sharpen your skills. Have a clear and concise mission declaration about what you wish to accomplish in life. Whenever you struggle you can remind yourself of the important purpose and keep you motivated.
Always explain don’t give excuses
When you did not perform the way you expected to, know why. Find out a good explanation so that next time you do better. But never give excuses for your actions. Learn to take full responsibility for any mistakes or blunders. Never blame anyone and always acknowledge your missteps.
Do one difficult thing every day
You cannot learn or improve eventually. You need to put efforts and challenge yourself. Step outside your comfort zones. Take small steps in doing the things which you think is the most difficult. For instance, speaking for yourself when you do not feel the most comfortable or enrolling in a class you don’t consider yourself qualified for. Be a little better than yesterday.
The 10-minute rule
Mental strength doesn’t promise you constant feeling of motivation. But you can surely be more productive in the times when you don’t feel like it. Give yourself 10minutes when you feel the temptation to not do something.
Wait for 10 minutes and if still your mind still fights your body you may give up doing it that time. Starting to do something can be the hardest part. But once you start you will realize that it is not that bad as you predicted.
Prove yourself wrong
When your mind tells you that you cannot do something prove it wrong. Your mind quits long before your body wants to give up. Prove yourself that you are more capable and over the time your brain will stop underestimating your body’s potential.
