For many people, dealing with personal and professional challenges in a healthy way can often be an extremely difficult process to master. Fortunately, the ability to cultivate an attitude of mental strength is a learnable skill, and even people who struggle in social situations can often develop considerable amounts of mental strength over time. Here are just a few great habits that mentally strong people put to good use each day, and why setting out to develop these qualities can be a great personal goal for 2020.
1. Setting Good Boundaries
Undoubtedly, mentally strong people often thrive in stressful environments by maintaining assertive attitudes and by setting good boundaries. In many ways, in fact, how well we set boundaries in our personal and professional relationships will largely determine how well we will cope with some of life’s biggest stressors. Indeed, without putting good boundaries into place both at home and in the workplace, we will often run the risk of experiencing long-term burnout. Look at the life of any mentally strong person, and you’ll probably notice that the ability to tell people “no” is given pride of place as a serious life-skill.
2. Knowing the Value of Self-Discipline
There can be little doubt that many strong people have an abiding respect for the personal quality of self-discipline. Self-discipline isn’t the same thing as self-criticism, however, and mentally strong people understand the difference between cultivating a strong work ethic and cultivating a negative attitude. Indeed, our capacity for self-discipline tends to show itself in how well we are able to cope with failure: For example, do we give up on projects when we hit roadblocks? Do we take stock of our approach to problem-solving when we inevitably make mistakes in our personal lives? In the long-term, life is about learning to overcome errors in judgment and competency. For mentally strong people, getting things wrong is part-and-parcel of eventually getting things right.
3. Knowing How to Accept Criticism
Accepting criticism is never an easy process, and many people spend truly enormous amounts of time and energy fleeing from negative feedback concerning their decisions or their negative character traits. It can be painful to hear critiques about our work or our behavior, but the experience of accepting criticism is often a necessary facet of personal and professional growth. For mentally strong people, in fact, a performance review or critical appraisal at home or at work is often rightly seen as an opportunity for self-improvement. If we never strive to find out more about what we’re getting wrong at home or in the workplace, in other words, we probably aren’t going to grow as people.
4. Knowing When to Relax
There can be little doubt that people who are mentally strong know when to work hard. But knowing when to take a break and practice self-care is just as important as maintaining a good work ethic. Just as a person wouldn’t want to go on a road trip without first putting gasoline in their car, we shouldn’t approach life’s biggest problems without giving ourselves time to recharge our emotional batteries. If we’re constantly experiencing burnout due to workplace stress or personal issues, we’ll be in no position to handle life’s problems to the best of our abilities. That kind of mindset can really take its toll in the long run!
