Book Review: Mentally Tough

Some days, you are better. You are quicker. You are stronger. You see more. You accomplish more. Solutions come to you. You are on a roll. You are better. Why are you so much better on some days than on others? It is only happenstance, a quirk of fate? Or is there some controllable way for you to perform consistently at the upper reaches of your abilities? There is a way to be at your best whenever you want or need to be, and it is based upon your ability to control your emotions.

Mentally tough is having the ability to control your emotional state in order to be focused, relaxed and confident in the workplace. It means you don’t get bogged down by stress, anger, fatigue, petty problems, or your workload. It means accomplishing your goals, unlocking boundless physical and mental energy, and discovering an enterprising, creative and vital you.

By utilizing the strategies in this book – the same techniques professional athletes use to attain their Ideal Performance State on command. These techniques – including Attitude, Visualization, Motivation, Exercise, Diet, and Performance ritual, Breath Control, Ritual, Humor and more are applied here to the world of business.

This book describes certain peak performance feelings such as -

Mental Calmness – This is not the state of a great performance. During the white moments, there is a very real sense of internal calm and quiet – almost a sense of performing in slow motion.

Physical Relaxation – Physical tenseness ruins performance, whether you’re trying to hit a tennis ball or you’re delivering a speech. During your finest hours, the muscles are relaxed not taut.

Freedom from Anxiety – Anxiety leads to physical and mental tension and provokes an undesirable shift in focus from the performance itself to its outcome or possible repercussions. Sometimes Anxiety will provide a source of energy. But anxiety is a negative energy, and no performance fueled by anxiety will be as good as one fueled from a positive source.

Energy – It is the energy that comes when you are loose, calm and free of anxiety. Every top performance is propelled by a seemingly boundless supply of mental and physical energy drawn from the positive emotions.

Optimism – The Optimism during top performance comes from a strong belief that whatever the challenge, the performer will find a way to meet it. Top performers never run out of options, and their optimism reflects this knowledge.

Enjoyment – When you find joy in work, you perform well. When it ceases to be fun, performance suffers. This state of fun is all-important to good performance; it represents a limitless source of positive energy.

Effortlessness – When the biochemistry is right, achieving great goals and overcoming major obstacles seem nearly effortless.

Automaticity – During great performances, the action is automatic, almost intuitive or instinctive. The right responses come naturally, without hesitation or deliberation.

Alertness – Finest hours always include an extraordinary awareness and a heightened sense of self. An executive will sense accurately the pulse of the surroundings, but simultaneously stay riveted to the task at hand.

Focus – The importance of concentration is no surprise, it is essential to any good performance to be able to focus on a specific target and resist distraction.

Self-confidence – It is nothing more than the strong internal belief that one can meet the challenges. This provides calm when the circumstances might otherwise evoke panic, anxiety anger or tension.

Control – This is simply the feeling that you are in control of yourself and your responses to events. You are not a passive victim of circumstance. You can’t always control events, but you can control your emotional responses.

If you’ve ever had just one day where everything flowed smoothly – you feel relaxed, yet everything and more gets done, problems are dealt with quickly and efficiently, and you’re more creative than you’ve been in months – then you know what it’s like to be Mentally Tough. And once you are Mentally Tough you have days like this on command – making the difference between success and failure in today’s tough business world.