All of us will face situations when our mental toughness will come at the test. It could be a toxic relationship, a dead-end job, a financial crisis, or any one of the ‘n’ number of problems you can have in your life.

To handle these problems coming your way without losing your mind, you’ll need to be mentally tough.

Let’s go through a quick guide on how you can develop mental toughness.

Become emotionally intelligent

Mental toughness isn’t possible without being emotionally intelligent and utilizing both negative and positive emotions around you. The simplest way to become emotionally intelligent is to accurately identify the cause of your emotions. If something makes you angry, nervous, or happy, figure out why.

As you become aware of your emotions, you can control them easily. And one of the common traits of mentally tough people is that they can control their emotions.

Be confident for mental toughness

As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.”

Your mentality has a powerful impact on your ability to succeed. In fact, a study from the University of Melbourne indicated that confident people are more likely to earn higher wages and succeed in life.

So, stop doubting yourself and your abilities. Be confident and see your mental strength develop.

Stay away from toxic people

Unwanted toxicity can have an adverse impact on your mental health. Mentally tough people limit their interactions with toxic people by keeping their emotions in check.

If a situation arises where you need to confront a toxic person, take a rational approach to the situation. Make sure your emotions aren’t allowing anger or frustration to catalyze the quarrel.

Also, try to understand the toxic person’s point of view and find common ground. And even if things go completely out of hands, take the other person with a grain of salt and don’t let them drag you down.

Learn to embrace change

Mentally strong people know how to adapt. They understand that fear of change can be paralyzing and can restrict their success and happiness. Therefore, they crave for changes and prepare for them.

Let’s face it; no one likes to get out of their comfort zone. But in order to develop mental toughness, you’ll need to open your mind and embrace change. Every change has some positives and negatives. It depends on your mindset as to how you perceive the change.

Say “no”

The more difficulty you have in saying no, the more likely you are to experience burnout, stress, or even depression. Mentally strong people understand that saying no is healthy. In addition, they have the foresight and self-esteem to make their nos clear.

When a situation demands you to say “no,” don’t use phrases like “I don’t think” or “I’m not sure.” Say no with confidence.

Besides saying no to others, another trait of mentally tough people is to say no to themselves. Set rules, limits, and boundaries for yourself to delay gratification and avoid impulsive action.

Fear means regret

We face this all the time. When all is said and done, we lament the chances we didn’t take. Mentally tough people aren’t afraid of taking risks.

When a situation demands you to take a risk, ask this to yourself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen if you do this?” You won’t certainly die, right? And death is, in fact, not the worst thing that can happen to you. The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to die from the inside while staying alive.

Embrace failure

One of the richest, most powerful, and revolutionary men of this plant, Elon Musk, has incurred more failures than anyone of you reading this. He got kicked out of his own company when he was enjoying his honeymoon with his wife. His first three rocket launches at SpaceX failed miserably, draining close to a billion dollars. The first Tesla car made almost zero sales.

But do you know what Elon Musk and presumably many other mentally tough people say about failure? They say, “Failure is an option.”

Don’t let failures scare you. Treat them as learning opportunities and use them to get better.

Final thoughts

Being mentally tough isn’t easy. Sometimes, it may require you to sacrifice your friendships and relationships. But in the long run, it helps you achieve happiness and peace of mind.

Do you want to develop mental toughness? Check Out The Mind Game on Amazon India and Google Books