mental strength

sonic85

hey all. tried this in a different forum but got no response so said id try it here. was just wondering how i could go about improving my mental strength and toughness?

Black Swan

How do you define "mental strength" and "toughness?"

talkin

thats a very tough question to answer.

sonic85

it is a tough question to answer. im not sure what way it can be defined - maybe confidence and self belief might be better terms.

i tend to be very down on myself in a lot of aspects in my life and i want to try and improve this. an example would be sport. i used to play soccer and was ok - id be very good in training but then when it came to games id be poor. the problems would stem from maybe making a mistake then my head would drop and id totally lose confidence and interest. thats just one example.

im a perfectionist and most of the time i feel like if i cant do something right or if i feel i cant be relatively successful at something then i wont do it at all. its a mindset i really want to get away from.

anyway this isnt the personal issues forum so ill stop there. was just wondering are there any good books i can get my hands on or a website or can anybody suggest techniques or something that might help. any suggestions are welcome!

JuliusCaesar

Black Swan wrote: »

How do you define "mental strength" and "toughness?"

Resilience? Flexibility? just guessing.....

sonic85

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Resilience? Flexibility? just guessing.....

exactly - something along those lines. to stay strong under pressure to not give in and fold when the going gets tough etc....

hotspur

sonic85 wrote: »

was just wondering are there any good books i can get my hands on or a website or can anybody suggest techniques or something that might help. any suggestions are welcome!

Melanie Fennell has an excellent self-help CBT focused book called Overcoming Low Self-esteem: Self-help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioural Techniques -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Low-Self-esteem-Behavioural-Techniques/dp/1854877259

You might also wish to check out some of Albert Ellis's self-help books. Also I recommend taking a look at some of these excellent CBT orientated workbooks available for free on an Australian clinical site:
http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/consumers.cfm

sonic85

thanks for that - ill have a read and see how it goes

Odysseus

sonic85 wrote: »

it is a tough question to answer. im not sure what way it can be defined - maybe confidence and self belief might be better terms.

i tend to be very down on myself in a lot of aspects in my life and i want to try and improve this. an example would be sport. i used to play soccer and was ok - id be very good in training but then when it came to games id be poor. the problems would stem from maybe making a mistake then my head would drop and id totally lose confidence and interest. thats just one example.

im a perfectionist and most of the time i feel like if i cant do something right or if i feel i cant be relatively successful at something then i wont do it at all. its a mindset i really want to get away from.

anyway this isnt the personal issues forum so ill stop there. was just wondering are there any good books i can get my hands on or a website or can anybody suggest techniques or something that might help. any suggestions are welcome!

I don't know if this is of any help; but I have done a lot of endurance stuff, e.g. spending six days running across the desert with a big backpack on my back, 100km races and the like. What I found was I had to build up to things, I wanted to do the Marathon De Sable but I started off with races longer than a marathon, then a marathon in the Sahara, then I finally done the MdS. This gave me the experience of pushing myself further and harder each time.

I looked at others who had done such events, I read everything I could. Some people found visualisation helped, I found developing my own personal mantras helpful. I had one race where I had to limp the last 40k home, I used my personal experience, I lost my dad that year, so I remembered the pain he went through, I also used the memory of my grand-dad who fought in WWII, my pain was insignificant to that. I was going to finish at the 82k mark, [there were a few different distances you could finish at] but a lad asked me a very important question, had I come to Lapland to run 82k or 100k?

Over the years I developed what I call my inner sergeant-major, when I need to dig in deep I find I have a tendency to see myself as an object. By that I mean in my head I speak to myself, pushing myself further each time.


I have never really looked at stuff like this from a psych perspective as I put a lot of my life under microscope, and you need something unanalysed. However, I used to think that it was only really special people who could finish the MdS; it’s often described as the toughest footrace in the world. Having done it, I would say most people are capable of it, but in order to do it you have to develop that inner strength you are speaking of. I found that I needed to build up my experience, learn from my mistakes, look at suitable role models, and identify with them. Look at what you want, then break that down into a series of mini goals, beware of perfectionism, try to avoid mistakes, but you will make them.

I used to do a marathon in the Sahara in Feb, a 60k race in April and a 100k one in June. So come Jan I would be training for the desert race, but the bigger picture was finishing the 100k in June. So the 100k was the prize each year, but in order to get there I had to take each one at a time.

Anyway I may be rambling a bit, so I’ll with leave it there. Last thing I would say is I think most people have that type of inner endurance, however, they don't believe in themselves, as I said I'm rambling now so I'll finish up, hopefully there is something there you can use.

sonic85

Odysseus wrote: »

I don't know if this is of any help; but I have done a lot of endurance stuff, e.g. spending six days running across the desert with a big backpack on my back, 100km races and the like. What I found was I had to build up to things, I wanted to do the Marathon De Sable but I started off with races longer than a marathon, then a marathon in the Sahara, then I finally done the MdS. This gave me the experience of pushing myself further and harder each time.

I looked at others who had done such events, I read everything I could. Some people found visualisation helped, I found developing my own personal mantras helpful. I had one race where I had to limp the last 40k home, I used my personal experience, I lost my dad that year, so I remembered the pain he went through, I also used the memory of my grand-dad who fought in WWII, my pain was insignificant to that. I was going to finish at the 82k mark, [there were a few different distances you could finish at] but a lad asked me a very important question, had I come to Lapland to run 82k or 100k?

Over the years I developed what I call my inner sergeant-major, when I need to dig in deep I find I have a tendency to see myself as an object. By that I mean in my head I speak to myself, pushing myself further each time.


I have never really looked at stuff like this from a psych perspective as I put a lot of my life under microscope, and you need something unanalysed. However, I used to think that it was only really special people who could finish the MdS; it’s often described as the toughest footrace in the world. Having done it, I would say most people are capable of it, but in order to do it you have to develop that inner strength you are speaking of. I found that I needed to build up my experience, learn from my mistakes, look at suitable role models, and identify with them. Look at what you want, then break that down into a series of mini goals, beware of perfectionism, try to avoid mistakes, but you will make them.

I used to do a marathon in the Sahara in Feb, a 60k race in April and a 100k one in June. So come Jan I would be training for the desert race, but the bigger picture was finishing the 100k in June. So the 100k was the prize each year, but in order to get there I had to take each one at a time.

Anyway I may be rambling a bit, so I’ll with leave it there. Last thing I would say is I think most people have that type of inner endurance, however, they don't believe in themselves, as I said I'm rambling now so I'll finish up, hopefully there is something there you can use.

that was a great post - thanks! sounds like youve had some amazing experiences. i found that bit about the inner sergeant major really interesting - id like to be able to do something like that to motivate myself and pull me through if im tired or if i feel i cant go on. can i just ask how long it took you to get yourself right mentally for your training and races? years id imagine?

Odysseus

sonic85 wrote: »

that was a great post - thanks! sounds like youve had some amazing experiences. i found that bit about the inner sergeant major really interesting - id like to be able to do something like that to motivate myself and pull me through if im tired or if i feel i cant go on. can i just ask how long it took you to get yourself right mentally for your training and races? years id imagine?

I have no problem talking about stuff like that, but I'm not really sure my ramblings about my own personal experience fit in here. To answer your question yeah, I started off with marathons, then ultras then looked at stuff like running for days in the desert. It developes over time like when I used to parachute, I constantly trained for a malfunction and when that day happen, I freaked, but the my training kicked in and I got through it.

I don't won't want to see unwilling to talk about it, but if you want to ask more maybe PM would be the way, as the must be the most un-psychological post I ever posted here. So feel free to PM if you have anymore questions, is that ok?

sonic85

no problem cheers