Mentally Strong People – Feeling Sorry

Brain Power

Mental Toughness

At times I’ve gone on and on about IQ – the measure of cognitive ability possessed by an individual.  I still am convinced that, as a general statement, groups of people with higher IQ’s will out perform groups of people with lower IQ’s.

That said, there is more to the story in how successful people achieve the things that they do.  Part of that additional story?

Mental Toughness

I found this article in Forbes some time ago ad found nearly all of the 13 characteristics of “mentally tough” people to be very spot on.

Let’s start with #1.

Feeling Sorry For Yourself

Nearly every single time I encounter someone who has been less successful than they feel they should have been, I get a feeling for this sense of “cosmic unfairness”.  That somehow, the circumstances or conditions that they find themselves in are not of their own doing – that they were mistreated.

And it might be true.

However, by focusing on the “how I got here” instead of acknowledging where you are and building an action plan to move forward, the individual is resigning himself to never moving forward; only looking back.

You don’t see successful people:

1.    Waste Time Feeling Sorry for Themselves.

You don’t see mentally strong people feeling sorry for their circumstances or dwelling on the way they’ve been mistreated. They have learned to take responsibility for their actions and outcomes, and they have an inherent understanding of the fact that frequently life is not fair. They are able to emerge from trying circumstances with self-awareness and gratitude for the lessons learned. When a situation turns out badly, they respond with phrases such as “Oh, well.” Or perhaps simply, “Next!”

One response to “Mentally Strong People – Feeling Sorry

  1. Wow, pretty much everything the Cathedral teaches people to do. 12/13, impressive.

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