🧭Improve Your Mental Toughness

Good Day, and welcome to The Growth Compass. We are like that jump into a cool swimming pool on a hot day - refreshing your mind and body so you can get out and take on the world.

Here’s where we’re headed today:

• Marcus Aurelius on mental toughness

• 9 strategies for mental toughness

• One breathing technique that will improve your toughness and stress response

• The inspiring story of Glenn Cunningham

Marcus Aurelius on Mental Toughness

"You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

- Marcus Aurelius

9 Strategies for Mental Toughness

Mental toughness is not a talent, but rather a skill. It's a muscle that needs to work and be developed. The more you learn to bounce back from adversity, the more you develop the mental toughness and grit you will need in life. 9 strategies to build that mental toughness:

1. Start with your Attitude and Habits - Your attitude and habits are a choice. Your attitude can turn a difficult situation into an opportunity, and your habits can build action on those attitudes. Create a positive mindset and productive routines to lay the groundwork for resilience and growth.

2. Master the Art of Being Present - Your life is controlled by what you focus on. When you focus on the past or the future, you worry or get anxious. The only place where we can make a true difference is in the present. By staying focused, you are able to channel your energy and resources towards your goals and make progress towards them.

3. Train Hard, Compete Easy - Preparation puts you in a position to succeed because you have done the work mentally and physically. When you practice your hardest, your natural instincts and creativity will take over when the time is needed. This allows you to act and not overthink.

4. From Now On, Problem = Opportunity - You can't always control what happens, but you can control how you handle challenges and setbacks. Reframe challenges and see problems as chances for growth and learning. This growth mindset reminds you that challenges are only challenges if you let them be.

5. Control What You Can Control - The most mentally tough people know that "you can control what you can control." There is nothing you can do about a failure or a painful moment because it's in the past. Channel your efforts and concentrate on aspects you can influence, enabling you to manage stress and maintain a sense of agency.

6. Believe in Your Future - Positivity is a choice. Belief is a choice. When you view the world this way, you are promoting a positive attitude and a growth mindset. It matters because it brings strength, resilience, and hope during those tough times.

7. Learn from the Best - Learn from the best and emulate what they do. Study how they approach their craft and the details that they look at. By looking to the best, you have a guide for how you should be preparing both mentally and physically. It gives you motivation and helps you refine your approach.

8. Visualize and Strategize - When you visualize your future, you clear the mental clutter around your vision, clarify your meaning, and reflect. Visualization helps your strategize for where there might be future obstacles. This allows you to be prepare for challenges and obstacles before they happen.

9. Win The Self-Talk Battle - Your self-talk is either going to empower you or defeat you. Negative self-talk is common, but you have to eliminate it or reframe it if you want to succeed. By improving your self-talk, you give yourself support and become more resilient when those tough times appear.

1 Breathing Technique to Reduce Stress

Stress is inevitable. The answer to dealing with stress and anxiety is not ignoring it, it is getting comfortable when stress happens. Not everyone prepares the body to get comfortable with high levels of adrenaline or stress and that is what we are going to focus on now.

In a study conducted with 114 volunteers, researchers compared the effects of different breathing exercises and mindfulness meditation over a month. The volunteers were asked to practice for 5 minutes per day for a month and keep a journal describing their progress. While all groups displayed improved mood and reduced anxiety, the breathwork exercises, particularly cyclic sighing, exhibited greater benefits in positive affect and lowered respiratory rate compared to mindfulness meditation. The study suggested that deliberate control over breath patterns might influence vagal function, interoceptive processes, brain structures regulating emotions, and perceived internal control, offering potential insights into the distinct impact of voluntary breathing techniques on physiology and mood.

Cyclic sighing emphasizes prolonged exhalations. In cyclic sighing, a person inhales through the nose until the lungs are halfway full, then pauses briefly. The lungs are then filled completely with another inhale, and then the breath is slowly exhaled out the mouth.

The goal: You want the exhalation to be about twice as long as the inhalation.

Takeaways:

• Daily 5-minute breathwork and mindfulness meditations improve mood and reduce anxiety

• Breathwork improves mood and physiological arousal more than mindfulness meditation

• Cyclic sighing is most effective at improving mood and reducing respiratory rate

Why does this matter and what can you do?

1. Start a breathwork practice - Allocate just 5 minutes each day for physiological sighing. Consistency is key to reaping the benefits over time.

2. Spend time being mindful during the day - Incorporate mindfulness meditation as an option. This practice involves observing your breath and staying present in the moment. It's a complementary approach to breathwork.

3. Pay attention when stressed - Pay attention to your breathing patterns in daily life. When stressed, consciously slow down your breath and focus on longer exhalations to activate the calming vagal response.

The Motivating Story of Glenn Cunningham

Listen to the inspiring story of Olympian Glenn Cunningham who was told that he was never going to walk again.

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