I’m not downplaying the seriousness of people getting sick. But I do want to offer a different perspective on our current situation. Being stuck at home can be an opportunity.
Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Susan Ertz
Most people believe that they need more time. It’s a common excuse for not doing all kinds of things. And now that they have it, many are wishing for life to go back to “normal.” So the question is:
What are you doing with the extra time you have while stuck at home?
10 Productive Things you can do While Stuck at Home
This situation has afforded many of us unprecedented amounts of time. And there are plenty of productive ways to spend it.
1. Start planning out and taking action on things you’ve always wanted to do.
Start a blog, learn to paint or play the piano. Get a new certification. What’s something you’ve been wanting to do but never have the time to put into action?
Take this extra time as an advantage. Take action on something and use the time to get some momentum going. It’s amazing how much progress you can make in a month or two.
When this situation comes to an end, you’ll be in full stride and might just keep it going. If you can’t do it now, what makes you think you’ll ever do it? Are you ok with that?
2. Organize Your Life
The pace of ordinary life can be frantic, and things have a way of getting disorganized. These are some things you can organize to be a step ahead when we return to normal.
Finances. If you don’t already, get a grip on all your debt. Look into transferring balances, consolidating debt.. Make a plan to pay off credit cards and save more money.
Clutter: Go through all your stuff. Bag up old clothes you never wear to donate. Clean out your cabinets and closets. Simplify your life, remove that stress.
3. Pick a Home Improvement Project
We normally don’t have time to figure out how to build a deck or remodel a bathroom. But, Home Depot is open. Youtube still works. People are looking to earn a few dollars if you need some help with labor.
If you own a home, I have no doubt there are projects you’ve wanted to get done. So, turn the news off and start planning it out. Then execute!
4. Get in Better Shape. Work out!
People are really struggling with this one. But it honestly isn’t that hard.
There are countless videos and blogs where people are showing you ways to work out at home. The missing element is action. Just pick something and DO IT!
Most people spend their entire lives on an island called “Someday I’ll.”
Denis Waitley
The progress you can make physically in a couple of months is amazing. If you can’t do it now, I hope you’re not selling yourself on the idea that you’ll do it when things go back to “normal.”
There are many certification courses out there that can be completed in a month or two.
I recently became a Bioforce Certified Conditioning Coach, and it took me approximately one month. I learned a ton and feel really good about it. You can easily do the same thing in whatever field you enjoy.
Why not return to normal life with some additional qualifications?
6. Go For a Walk, Meet Your Neighbors
I’ve been amazed at how many neighbors I’ve met in the past month. People I never even saw before in 4 years living in my house.
People are outside now, sitting in their front yards or walking around the neighborhood. It’s a good opportunity to meet new people.
These days we’re all a little antisocial. It honestly feels really good to get out there and socialize with other people in the neighborhood. I don’t think that ever would have happened without this situation.
7. Learn new Recipes. Cook New Foods
This extra time has given us some time to experiment a little. With restaurants closed and us stuck at home, we’ve had a lot more time to try out new recipes.
When it’s all said and done, you’ll probably have discovered several new meals you’ll be cooking for a long time.
We recently made up these Protein Bites that we now make all the time.
8. Make a Vision Board. Redefine your Biggest Goals
Now is a great time to think about and plan for the things you want to accomplish most over the next year.
Get a cork board, and pin some things up there that inspire you and make you think about your biggest goals. Take this time to develop and plan out your vision.
If you have no vision of yourself in the future, then you have nothing to live for.
Les Brown
9. Start Doing Yoga
Maybe you weren’t expecting this one. But it’s not a random suggestion. Yoga has been shown by research to lower your resting heart rate and improve overall health.
If you’re struggling to work out during this lockdown, Yoga could be the answer. You can search for free yoga videos, or check out “Yoga download,” which contains high quality at-home yoga instruction you can start right now.
10. Read a Book That Can Make You Better
Reading is something I wish I did more of. Right now is the time, if there ever was one, to get through a good book. A good book can really change your thinking process and help you be more productive and successful.
Being stuck at home isn’t a punishment. It’s an opportunity. There are plenty of productive things to do that will be more difficult once we’re back to the normal pace of life.
Use this time to your advantage. Make yourself better. Take action.
I hope you found this article interesting. Leave a comment and let me know!
*Note: This article contains affiliate links. Anything purchased comes at no additional cost to you, and helps me to continue creating quality content
Mike (Supastrong)
Bioforce Certified Conditioning Coach and personal trainer. I’ve run boot camps and served as the wellness coordinator for a fortune 500 company. Currently a Federal Agent in San Diego, CA, and an Infantryman in the Army Reserve.
Anything that promises to change your life in 30 seconds is probably click-bait. But I’d never do that in my blog. I really do believe that you can change your life by doing quick and simple things every day.
Keep in mind… These habits can only be life-changing if you actually use them. Try them out for one week, and see if you aren’t feeling a whole lot more productive and better about yourself.
30 Second Habits That Can Make you More Successful
#1 The 30 Second Summary Habit
This habit could be the most useful on the list. Studies have shown that summarizing what you learn can increase your understanding of the material by 19%. This can have a huge impact in many areas of our lives.
Many of us lead increasingly busier lives. We go to meetings, attend trainings, watch how-to videos. We’re ambitious, but a lot of effort can be wasted if we aren’t retaining the most useful information.
To put this habit into practice, simply take 30 seconds after any activity and write down the most important and useful things you learned or need to remember. It can be tempting to want to overthink and spend several minutes taking additional notes, but this is precisely what you should try and avoid.
Experts say that keeping your summary to around 30 seconds will force you to only write down the most important and useful information, which will allow you to remember those things better and for much longer.
Making a habit of quickly summarizing what you’ve learned will also make you better at recognizing things that are useful to you when you see or hear them. Performing this habit can make you sharper and will allow you to master what you’re learning by only keeping the most useful information to you.
These days, I use a journal app on my phone to keep track of all kinds of things. If I go to a boxing class, I write down what I learned that day. If I watch a how-to video, I quickly write down what I learned. I can attest that this quick habit pays big dividends in mastering things faster.
#2 Start the Day by Narrowing Your Focus
In the frantic pace of life, it’s way too easy to lose sight of the many things we want to accomplish in a day. I know from the moment I wake up, there can be all sorts of competing priorities tugging me in different directions.
To narrow your focus, try doing this one simple thing every morning: When you wake up, and take your first sip of your morning coffee, write down the 3 things you’d most like to get done in your day. You may have more than 3 things you want to accomplish, but narrow it down to the 3 that are the most important.
“Setting goals is linked with higher motivation, self-esteem, self-confidence, and autonomy and research has established a strong connection between goal-setting and success.
Motivation is always strong in the beginning, but can be fleeting as time goes on. I think we’ve all started something with grand intentions only to see our motivation fade out. For years I wanted to start a blog, and did so several times, with little to show for it. It wasn’t until I put it down on paper and had a vision that I actually made it happen in any capacity. I can say this for a lot of things that I currently do.
To keep yourself motivated, find a picture that represents what you’re trying to accomplish. Something that fills you with motivation and reminds you of the deep desire you have to reach that goal. This can be done by keeping a picture in your wallet and looking at it a few times per day, or especially when you feel your motivation is fading.
Vision Boards
A Vision Board is basically just a collection of pictures that represent the goals you want to accomplish. You can put them on a corkboard, and keep it somewhere you’ll see it every day. I’ve found vision boards to work in an almost mystical way… The law of attraction really does have some merit.
Of course, it’s important to understand that the vision board is essentially a daily visualization practice. Visualizing holding $20,000 will not make the money manifest in your hands. What research tells us is that visualizing the Process of obtaining the money is what will cause it to manifest into your life. Seeing yourself achieve your goals is the key.
This technique has been used by many of the most famous athletes and entrepreneurs. It worked for them, and it can work for you too.
If you want to make a vision board, this is the one I’ve used.. as I like to also be able to write my goals down along with having visual representations. (This is an affiliate link, but it’s the one I use, and you can use whatever means you have at your disposal).
30 Second Habits to Make you a Better Person
I think deep down, we all want to be a better person. It’s part of the human spirit. But within the chaos of life, it can be difficult to willfully take the time to go out of our way for a complete stranger. But, success and being a better person are intimately related, and so these habits seek to help us consciously improve this aspect of our lives.
#1 Give Someone a Compliment
It might sound overly simple, but can you recall the last time you went out of your way to give someone a real, sincere compliment?
Can you remember the last time someone gave you a real compliment? It feels pretty good and can really make a person’s day. A study showed that receiving a compliment lights up the same reward section of the brain as receiving a financial gift. Research has also shown that receiving compliments can improve performance and learning ability. The catch? The compliments must be Sincere.
It takes no more than 30 seconds to tell someone that they’re doing a great job and explain why. Or you can simply tell someone that you really admire what they do.
This habit is mutually beneficial. It feels good to compliment someone, and feels even better for the person you’re giving it to. You never know what kind of day or week someone is having, and your compliment might just give that person the boost of confidence they needed to achieve their own goals.
#2 Random Acts of Kindness
Believe it or not, there is actually a ton of research on the benefits of performing random acts of kindness. Specifically, research has shown that performing acts of kindness:
Can lower blood pressure
Releases “feel good” chemicals from the brain, such as Oxytocin and Seratonin.
Reduce anxiety
Reduce stress and the stress hormone Cortisol by 23%
These benefits happen not only during the act, but also every time you think about it. Regularly performing selfless acts of kindness can make you a healthier, happier and more successful person. That’s coming from real research.
Here are a few examples of random acts of kindness that almost anyone can do with little effort:
Next time you’re in the Starbucks line, buy the person behind you their coffee.
If you’re doing laundry, leave enough quarters on the machine for the next person.
Let someone in line go ahead of you.
Buy a homeless person a meal, or give them a couple dollars.
Leave an anonymous “thank you” note for a coworker.
I think we’ve all done things on this list at some point in our lives, but how many people have made it a Habit? Doing something selfless and kind for another person every day can simply make you a better, happier and healthier person, and that is a fact!
#3 Spend 30 Seconds Being Grateful
This one seems pretty easy, but I’d bet you don’t even spend 30 seconds on a daily basis actually willfully focusing on how grateful you are.
Regardless of what you have going on, we can always find things to be grateful for. Family, friends, a job that allows us to live a pretty decent life. Our health! Grateful for being alive to live and learn and pursue new dreams.
Research shows that spending time each day being grateful can lead to greater physical health and overall happiness and a sense of enhanced well-being. It’s amazing how focusing on positive emotions can have such a dramatic effect on our lives, but it’s true!
30 Second Habits to Make You Stronger
Seeing as my blog usually focuses on Fitness related topics, I had to throw this one in there. You can achieve a lot in a short time, simply by being consistent.
#1 Do 30 Seconds of Push ups or Sit ups Throughout the Day
It’s amazing what you can accomplish in just a few minutes per day. If you suck at push ups, simply doing 30 second sets throughout the day can have a huge impact over time. Remember… Consistency.
Start with just 30 seconds per day, and then start doing it twice per day, and continue adding rounds. Progress = Motivation, and once you see yourself getting better, you’ll WANT to do more. Start incorporating 30 second sets of squats, or lunges, or any other body weight exercise you’d like. Once you see progress, you’ll be hooked.
This leads me to my final point in this article:
30 Second Habits Will Turn into Much Bigger Habits
While all of these daily habits are simple and easy, you’ll find that if you actually do these on a daily basis, you will not worry about how long it takes. When something makes you feel good, improves your life and makes you a better, more successful person, you’ll naturally want more.
Small, 30 second daily activities can turn into life-changing acts that begin to define your successes and who you are. Like most things, we just need to get started. Once your foot is in the door, the door will open and you’ll step right through to a far better version of you.
If you liked this article, here are a couple others that I think you’ll enjoy:
Bioforce Certified Conditioning Coach and personal trainer. I’ve run boot camps and served as the wellness coordinator for a fortune 500 company. Currently a Federal Agent in San Diego, CA, and an Infantryman in the Army Reserve.
Can you get faster, stronger and in better shape as you get older?
Is age really the limiting factor to what you can achieve physically? I say it isn’t, and I’ve got plenty of reasons and experience to back it up.
In fact, you can achieve things you may not have believed possible well into your 30’s and 40’s, and probably beyond. I know this because I’m still doing it in my late 30’s, and because studies show it’s achievable.
The Age Myth You Sell Yourself
It’s common knowledge, right? We hit our prime in our 20’s and then it’s all downhill physically. Everyone has stories of how fit they were back in the day. How much they used to lift, how fast they used to run.
If you’re one of these people, then I have to ask you.. Why can you no longer do those things? Is it because you got older? Or is it something else?
Regardless of what you may tell yourself, the real answer is that it isn’t a priority for you to do them anymore. Other things have taken precedence. Work, family, hobbies.. Netflix (ok, guilty on that one).
These are all important things, of course. But I’m writing this article to tell you that if you desire to work out harder and push yourself past previous limits, you can. I repeat.. You CAN!
First, I want to highlight 2 critical aspects of continuing to train as you age.
Training and Exercise Reverse Aging and Decrease Risk of Dying.
#1 Exercising as You Age Reverses Aging
A study from the University of Birmingham and King’s College, London, revealed that those who continuously exercise throughout life literally defy the aging process in several ways. The study found that those who continue to train into their 40’s and 50’s and beyond:
Did not lose muscle mass or strength
Had the immune function of a person in their 20’s
Did not increase body fat or cholesterol levels
Maintained testosterone production of a younger person
Maintained or surpassed the aerobic capacity of a younger person
If you’ve been out of the game for a while, Getting yourself back into training could literally help to rewind the biological clock. It’s never too late.
#2 Aerobic Fitness Decreases Risk of Mortality From ALL Causes
A Study looking at over 122,000 patients found that:
“cardiorespiratory fitness was inversely associated with all-cause mortality without an observed upper limit of benefit.”
The Importance of this cannot be overstated. This study found that increasing aerobic fitness lowers a person’s risk of dying from all causes. The study found that there was no upper limit of benefit, meaning that the more you increase your aerobic fitness, the less chance you have of dying, period.
Another study examined declining exercise capacity due to aging and found that:
“By participating in a training program, you can raise your aerobic capacity 15% to 25%, which in our study would be equivalent to being 10-20 years younger.“
Jennifer Warner. WebMD
What Happens as We Get Older
What Studies and Common Beliefs Say
There are some real physiological changes that take place as we get older. I am certainly not denying this. Studies have shown that aging is associated with:
Decreased Muscle Mass
Increased Body Fat
Decreased strength and muscle elasticity
Decreased Aerobic capacity
Decreased Immune Function
Decreased Testosterone
Studies show this to be true.. but studies also frequently look at people who are not vigorously exercising on a consistent basis. Don’t just accept your fate because it’s being sold to you. You can do something about it, and you are capable of much more than you may think.
What Really Happens
What actually happens to most of us as we get older is that our lives become increasingly more stressful. Our careers take over. Kids take over. The demands coming in at us from all angles takes an extraordinary amount of energy, and there is only so much to go around.
The key point to take away is that Stress from any source, be it physical or otherwise, causes a sympathetic response in the body (fight or flight). Stress hormones like Adrenaline and cortisol are released. Our sleep suffers, we become less resilient, and we don’t even realize it happening over time.
This chronic level of stress is what causes a majority of the symptoms we associate with aging. It is imperative that we counterattack this problem somehow, and fitness is a huge part of the answer. You can read the studies for yourself. Learn to manage stress, work out, and recover.. and you will have a powerful new weapon to take with you.
You Can Surpass Previous Limits, Even in Your 30’s and 40’s
As I’ve aged, I have consciously refused to accept that aging alone will reduce what I’m capable of. And, I have yet to disappoint myself. At 38, I’m still pushing past physical limits, and am in far better condition than I was in my 20’s. However, there is a caveat to this:
You have to learn to train smarter. There is some truth to the fact that you were able to recover faster when you were younger. And a huge part of that is that you had far less stress and responsibility when you were younger. You have to accept this, adapt, and overcome.
You have to make your training a high priority. It cannot come last, or only when you have time. There is always time. If I had to get up at 3am to train, I would (and have). You CAN do it! You just need some new habits.
Age is not the limiting factor in what you can achieve physically. The inability to adapt to changes, along with not prioritizing your fitness, is the limiting factor.
Training smarter doesn’t have to be complicated. But it does mean being purposeful in how you go about your workouts and training. Learning to train more intelligently can be the difference that allows you to reach higher levels than you ever have before.
This is really important. In the past, chances are your workouts weren’t optimal. As you get older, you can learn to fine tune things and push even further than you ever have before by being purposeful vs. spinning your wheels.
Ensuring that you prioritize recovery is the real game changer. You can still train hard and with high intensity, but follow those days with a day of low intensity training. This is called the “high-low” method of training, and it can allow you to experience continuous progress without burning out or getting injured.
Training smarter means being aware of the fact that you’re getting older, and implementing proactive strategies to keep injuries away and to keep progress moving forward.
It also means being conscious of all of the stress in your life, and implementing strategies to ensure you are recovering, instead of pushing yourself into the ground.
Focus on improving mobility. In particular, hip and shoulder mobility. Youtube has plenty of great videos on this, and it doesn’t take much time.
Always warm up before every workout. Your warm up should include mobility work and light cardiovascular training.
Always cool down and get some good stretching in after you train.
spend time improving your aerobic fitness. This can be accomplished with low intensity cardiovascular training a few days per week.
Have Specific Goals, and Don’t be Afraid to Aim High
Whatever your fitness goals might be, don’t sell yourself short. You can do just about anything in your 30’s and even into your 40’s. Want to run a marathon? Fight in an MMA bout? Compete in Crossfit? These things are all doable if you really make it a priority and train intelligently. Insert whatever goal you want here ____________. I don’t like limits. They are meant to be CRUSHED! 🙂
Outline what it is you want to achieve, then break it down into smaller goals. Do some research. Become an expert in the details of what you’re trying to accomplish.
Don’t let Anyone Else’s Negativity Influence Your Goals.
I always say, keep your goals to yourself. Other people have a way of passing their beliefs onto us, and you never want to let someone else influence your own personal goals. The seeds of negativity can grow deep roots in our mind. Stay away from negative people, and do the things you know deep down you want to achieve.
Most people sell themselves short. They buy into the collective beliefs that aging is some sort of death sentence. It isn’t. It’s an opportunity. People sell themselves short and are threatened by anyone who might crush the illusion they hold onto. They might try to hold you down by discouraging you. Decide now to make a shield against that negative energy.
Conclusion
If you want something bad enough, you can have it. If you’re out of shape and want to run a 6 minute mile, you can. If you’ve always wanted to achieve something but never dedicated yourself to it before, being a little bit older doesn’t mean you can’t get there. You can get there, and beyond.
Here are a couple other articles that you might enjoy:
I hope this article was helpful, and maybe even inspiring. As always, my aim is to help find that perfect version of ourselves we’re always striving for.
Thanks for Reading!
Mike (SupaStrong)
Bioforce Certified Conditioning Coach and personal trainer. I’ve run boot camps and served as the wellness coordinator for a fortune 500 company. Currently a Federal Agent in San Diego, CA, and an Infantryman in the Army Reserve.
We all have things we wish we would do more often. Maybe it’s working out… or waking up earlier to start the day. We know it would improve our lives. Yet making the change remains elusive. New habits are hard to keep.
We think about it, and maybe even dabble in it a little bit, and then it’s gone.
So how can we actually create a new habit and make it last? It’s a question worth asking, as our habits are what actually define who we are, what we accomplish and where we’re headed.
How Long does it Take to Create a New Habit?
In the 1960’s, a plastic surgeon named Maxwell Maltz observed that after an operation, his patients took about 21 days to adjust to their new look. Maltz published this finding in his book, “Psycho-Cybernetics,” which went viral and sold over 20 million copies.
And this is where the myth of “21 days” to create a new habit originated from. People like the idea of 21 days to make lasting change. It’s short and seems really doable.
Unfortunately, it’s not true.
How Long Does it Really Take?
A study in the European Journal of Social Psychology found that it took an average of 66 days to create a new habit. This study also found that:
Missing a day or two didn’t have any impact on successfully implementing a new habit.
More difficult habits, like doing 100 sit ups every morning, took longer than something simple like drinking a glass of water after breakfast every day.
Some People are more resistant to forming new habits than others.
5 Tips to Successfully Make and Keep a New habit
Armed with this new information, we can create a plan to change our lives with a positive new habit.
Tip #1: Identify a New Habit You’d Like to Implement into your life.
You can probably already identify at least one thing you wish you’d do more often, or every day. Make sure it’s something that you can actually do. If it’s something unreasonable, you may be setting yourself up for failure. For example, instead of trying to wake up 3 hours earlier every day, you can get up one hour earlier. Doing too much, too soon is what causes a lot of people to fail.
Tip #2 Use Psychology to your advantage.
Our brains are hardwired with a built-in reward system. Think about it. Habits like smoking or overeating are easy to adopt. They’re easy because they trigger the reward system in our brains, releasing chemicals and causing feelings of pleasure.
When we’re trying to create a new habit, we can use this to our advantage. Every time you successfully perform the new act, give yourself a reward. If you’re waking up earlier, your reward can be a cup of coffee. If you’re working out, the reward can be a piece of chocolate or any other food that normally triggers pleasure for you. In time, working out will feel good and will replace the chocolate anyways!
Use your body’s own design to get what you want out of it.
Tip #3 Use Microgoals to ensure you can’t fail
This is expanding on Tip #1, when we said we shouldn’t set an unreasonable goal. Setting small, achievable goals can ensure you’ll actually make a change successfully. Maybe you’d like to wake up 2 hours earlier, but the chances of making that last aren’t too great.
Willpower can only go so far, and it’ll never last for 66 days. Instead, try waking up 20 minutes earlier every day. Once you’ve established this new habit and it no longer takes any effort, you can work on another 20 minutes. Be creative and apply this principle to whatever your goal might be.
Tip #4 Don’t Let Yourself Fall Off The Cliff
When trying to start doing something new every day, you’re bound to miss a day here and there. Don’t be too hard on yourself, but never miss more than 1 consecutive day.
Once you’ve missed 2 or 3 days in a row, your habit is likely going to be broken and you’ll be starting from scratch again, which can be a really demotivating experience.
Instead, accept the temporary defeat of missing a day, then get back on the horse and keep riding off into the sunset.
Tip #5 Be Patient. Excellence and Greatness Don’t Happen Overnight
The whole point of creating a new habit is to improve yourself. We all have a vision of a best version of ourselves, and creating new habits is our attempt to get closer to becoming that person. By going after this goal, you’re on the right path. Have faith in that and embrace the journey. Every day that you complete successfully is another small victory.
Conclusion
Creating a new habit can be life changing. Like money in a 401k, small changes compound over time to become really big changes. Whatever it is that you’re trying to accomplish, I hope this was helpful and I know you can get it done.
Don’t wait another day. The time is never just right. The time is now!
Bioforce Certified Conditioning Coach and personal trainer. I’ve run boot camps and served as the wellness coordinator for a fortune 500 company. Currently a Federal Agent in San Diego, CA, and an Infantryman in the Army Reserve.
Where does mental toughness come from? I’ll let Mr. Rollins start me off here with a quote I love about the Iron Mind…
“People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes.
They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.”
Henry Rollins
What is Mental Toughness?
Wikipedia says:
Mental toughness is a measure of individual resilience and confidence that may predict success in sport, education and the workplace.
Researchers Jones, Hanton, and Connaughton used interviews with athletes, coaches and sports psychologists to come up with this definition of mental toughness:
Mental toughness is “Having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to: generally, cope better than your opponents with the many demands (competition, training, lifestyle) that sport places on a performer; specifically, be more consistent and better than your opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident, and in control under pressure.” (1)
Some key words stand out in these definitions:
Resilience
Confidence
Determined
Focused
Psychological Edge
Habit #1 Test Your Metal
“It’s been said that a knight in shining armor has never had his metal tested.”
A huge part of developing mental toughness is repeatedly proving to yourself that you can overcome difficulties and personal struggles. This is what Henry Rollins was referring to when he said people need “the iron mind.”
The only way to get the iron mind is to push yourself physically beyond what you were previously capable of. Growth is hard and painful. The mind resists and begs you to stop. This is your chance to prove to yourself that you can overcome pain and difficulty.
Listen to Henry.. Get the iron mind. Test yourself physically, and overcome!
Mentally tough people do not just react to stress. They choose how they interpret stress and how they will choose to deal with it.
They realize that the stress itself has no real power. All of the power lies within us to make a choice on how we’re going to deal with external stressors.
In moments where we’re feeling stress coming from all angles, we have to realize what kind of person we want to be. If my kids are driving me crazy and I’m tired and have all kinds of things going on, I have to remember that I am a great dad, and the way I react to these situations is what is going to make me great.
In the words of a Navy Seal Commander on Sealfit.com (an awesome site): “How you interpret and handle external stressors determines if you’ll overcome your woes.
Habit #3 Monitor and Adjust Your Self-Talk
Have you ever taken the time to monitor what you tell yourself in difficult situations? If your self talk is negative, studies say your performance will suffer in all areas of life.
How to Improve Self Talk for a Boost in Mental Toughness
According to an article in Psychology Today, there are 4 steps you can take:
Notice what you’re already telling yourself. Pay attention to it.
Ignore unhelpful self-talk
Pick a “power phrase.” Something that makes you feel motivated
Pick a phrase or reminder word to help you stay focused.
Our mind can be our greatest enemy or our most valuable asset. Monitoring and adjusting your self talk can be a huge step in increasing mental toughness.
Habit #4 Visualize
Taking just a few minutes each day to visualize can have a big impact on how we react and perform.
Studies have shown that the mind doesn’t really know the difference between strong visualizations and actual activity.
Athletes use visualization all the time. Research has shown that visualizing shooting and making free throws can actually improve shooting.
You can use this same technique on any area of your life. If you want to react to certain stressors better, visualize yourself reacting the way you want to. This can quickly result in you actually gaining control over how you react, versus being controlled by outside stress.
Habit #5 Be Disciplined. Delay Gratification
“The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day. when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win – you pass the test.”
Jocko Willink
“Discipline Equals Freedom” is a life-changing book by Jocko Willink, former Navy Seal Commander. Highly recommend.
You really want that double mocha frappucino every morning.. but you have a weight loss goal. Maybe you really want to get promoted at work, but it’s easier every day to not go the extra mile and earn it.
As Tony Robbins says.. “In life, we get what we are, not what we want.” You have to BE, not want. If something is important enough that you dream of it, then you have to be willing to forego temporary satisfaction in the name of achieving, and becoming something much greater.
Habit #6 Control Your Emotions
To have mental toughness, you have to be able to control your emotions. If the slightest bit of stress causes you to unravel emotionally, you’re allowing yourself to be controlled instead of being in control.
Mentally tough people remain in control. They tell themselves that nothing is going to stop them, and they mean it. When something is making you feel like you’re going to lose control of your emotions, use your self talk and focus on who you are. Like I said before, it will become a habit just like anything else repeated over and over.
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Conclusion
YOU are in control. This is your life, your mind. You get to choose who you are and what you’re going to accomplish. Being mentally tough is a choice. If you want it, you’ve got a great start with this article. The only question is.. what will you do now?
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Mike (Supastrong)
Bioforce Certified Conditioning Coach and personal trainer. I’ve run boot camps and served as the wellness coordinator for a fortune 500 company. Currently a Federal Agent in San Diego, CA, and an Infantryman in the Army Reserve.
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