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Commitment And The Other Components Of Mental Strength

May 31, 2012

Before we get into what makes up Mental Strength, let’s look at what Mental Strength is. commitment

Mental Strength is the capacity for an individual to deal effectively with stressors, pressures and challenges and perform to the best of their abilities irrespective of the circumstances in which they find themselves.

Mental Strength is the quality which determines in some part how people deal with challenge, stressors and pressure.

There is a very strong link between Mental Strength and issues like stress management, peak performance and behavior, these are all interrelated.

Commitment and the C’s of Mental Strength

The sports world and military remains two of the top places for developing Mental Strength. Health psychology and resilience are two things that also embrace Mental Strength. Basically, most sports trainers and coaches are very familiar with the concept of Mental Strength. It helps their players to be very competitive. Countless models have proven that Mental Strength is very valuable to the world of sports and can be applied to other areas of life. These models are based upon and have become very prominent due to the following global 4C’s definitions:

  • Control
  • Confidence
  • Challenge
  • Commitment

This particular structure makes it easy for mangers, leaders, trainers, coaches and athletes to understand performance levels and why they perform the way that they do. It also explains why individuals are not able to reach a certain level of performance. In addition, this type of model assessment takes into account the amount of pressure involved.

When the concept of Mental Strength is understood, it shows why some people do better in teams as opposed to being solitary.

But it also explains why powerful individuals sometimes don’t do as well as less powerful individuals. Maintaining a winning mentality and being confident in your abilities helps with success. If you think that you are a loser, then you’re going to lose. But winners believe that they can win. This type of assessment basically explain why certain people are more prone to win than others. It is the way that they think and how they tackle each challenge mentally.

Challenge

The challenge part of Mental Strength determines if an individual is willing to accept life’s challenges and continue to develop. Can you perform under both flexible and predictable circumstances and do well in each type of situation? There are those who can only perform well during regularly scheduled activities. Also, some people tend to take on more than they can handle, and they get overwhelmed.

There are two things to understand. First, there is preparedness. Some people are able to work outside of their comfort zone and be willing to take on extra risks. Secondly, some have the ability to see both good and bad opportunities as learning resources. If something bad happens, do you have what it takes to turn things around and learn from your mistakes instead of grumbling?

Commitment

This quality determines if you can finish and push through life’s challenges, even if things get rough. This includes finding the motivation to complete all tasks. If a person has resilience and tenaciousness, he can finish all tasks and not let things get in the way.

There will be times when others are intimidated by your level of commitment. This is especially true if they are not as mentally strong as you are. Most people understand when a person has a high level of commitment to certain projects. It is often expected. But problems arise when a strong commitment is made towards routine tasks.

This type of commitment might be good for very hard challenges, but the mentally strong are also known for behaving this way when it comes to daily projects. Thus, others may not want to work with you because of your strong commitment to goals. Making a commitment means that you are willing to set a goal and do everything possible to meet that goal.

Control

This quality determines if you are in control of your life and are confident that you can get things done. This involves both life control and emotional control. Sometimes you may feel like you are not getting anything done and start to have bad thoughts about your progression. But work through challenges and gain control.

Control is made up of both preparedness and being able to see both good and bad opportunities. Can you move outside of your comfort zone and take on risks to reach goals? Do you generally believe that the world provides more good opportunities than bad ones?

Confidence

Confidence shows whether or not you are a self-assured person. You want to be seen as someone who always achieves goals. Be the person who succeeds when others tend to just give up when things get rough. Strive to be the person who continues to push ahead when challenges seem too difficult.

There are two things that make up confidence. First, you have to have confidence in your abilities. Some people are able to do the job, but they don’t believe that they can do it. This means that they fail because they don’t use all of their available tools to reach goals. On the other hand, there are those who don’t have a lot of abilities, but they get the job done because of their strong mental strength.

Believe in yourself. You may be qualified to do a job, but you are not successful because you don’t believe in your abilities. On the other hand, you may not be qualified for a job, but you are the successful candidate because you are confident in your abilities.

Secondly, you have to possess interpersonal confidence. Your success depends on how well you are able to take criticism. All in all, when it comes to the 4C’s, they are all different, but mental strength connects them.

Research shows that the four C’s are independent, but they are all connected by the concept of Mental Strength.

The Mental Toughness Questionnaire is an assessment that determines someone’s Mental Strength…at this moment.   The questionnaire also provides tips on improving your Mental Strength.  If you would like to take the Mental Toughness Questionnaire go HERE for more info.