Mental Toughness

Mental toughness has taken the world by storm. At its core is the idea that a person can develop the capacity to bear tremendous amounts of pressure and pain while still retaining the ability to perform.

The idea of mental toughness is the natural offspring of a society that espouses effort and hard work. What society fails to recognize, however, is that mental toughness comes with its own limitations.

Mental toughness approaches obstacles as something to be overcome. This is fine, if there is no alternative, but that is not the case. The very obstacles one attempts to overcome by way of mental toughness are obstacles created by his own mind. They do not have an independent existence of their own. Mental toughness is a tool that the mind uses to overcome itself.

The obstacles one attempts to overcome, things such as anger, insecurity, uncertainty, fear, are all effects that have a particular cause. To approach such things from the standpoint of mental toughness means that one will never understand their source. Problems cannot be solved at the level of the problem if one wishes to be free of them. Problems must be eliminated at their root.

Be it in the world of sports, business, or elsewhere, obstacles are a hindrance to performance. While the devotee of mental toughness spends his time learning to overcome obstacles of his own making, the master spends his time dismantling these obstacles. When there are no obstacles, there is no interference. When there is no interference, all of one’s faculties are available to him.