Best Practices for Mental Toughness? Show me yours, I'll show you mine.
For some reason I tend to put myself in difficult positions quite a bit. The most important thing I learned is that it's easy to be mentally tough when things are going great. But when things are going poorly I tend to get into panic/anxiety mode and it's too easy to think, "Ok, I'll get back to my good habits once these bad things are over."
Obviously, it's during the bad moment that one must be as mentally tough as possible.
1. Physical
Every day:
- do something physically healthy: exercise, eat well, sleep well.
It's easy to sit in front of a computer all day, never go outside, eat poorly, sleep poorly. For me, this is the easiest thing in the world to do. It's hard to do these other things that are known to reduce stress, reduce anxiety, increase health
2. Emotional
Every day: connect with someone you love and build that relationship stronger.
3. Creative
At the very least, write down some ideas.
4. Spiritual
This doesn't mean prayer or go to temple or church. But it does mean recognizing that life is short and most things are out of our control, so surrender to the past and take action for the future.
5. Taking action
When I was thrown out of graduate school I also was unemployed for the first time in my life. I was finally an adult!
But I had no job, no prospects, nothing going on. I was getting depressed.
Someone told me, "Do at least one thing a day."
Now when I am feeling down about something I try to do that one thing a day. Make a phone call or an email. Pick any project you are working on and try to advance it forward even just a little bit.
Moving forward on any career prospect, business, job, is an action that compounds. Again, it's easy to say: "I'll do it tomorrow". But that's the first sign that you NEED to do it today.
6. Sunlight in the morning
It's important to get outside and see the sun in the morning. According to Andrew Huberman, there are dompamine receptors on the eyelids and they love that morning sunlight.
7. Start preparing for sleep 3-4 hours before sleep
Little to know food or screen time.
8. Never blame or complain.
This is a version of "Extreme Ownership"
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