Some Personality Traits That Make You Mentally Tough

Mental toughness is being good at dealing with the demands of life, which means being able to work under pressure. I have studied this topic extensively since the beginning of this year, and I found a study about the relationship between different personality traits that determine our mental maturity. The study’s authors studied professional athletes and found five personality traits that predict success in sports.

While these findings are not conclusive or applicable in everyday life, I have found their list of five personality traits to be very useful, and we can use these traits as a guide to gain more mental toughness. In this article, I will share with you what I think of the traits which made athletes mentally mature:

1. Ego strength:

I liked the study’s authors’ presentation of the relationship between ego and mental toughness. In my opinion, ego is a tool that should not be suppressed. In the study, they defined ego as a measure of an individual’s ability to deal with setbacks, criticism, and rejection. If you get a high score in ego strength, you are less affected by failure and setbacks, and if you get a low score, you are affected by failure, criticism, and rejection, and will find it difficult to recover.

In recent years, the ego has received a lot of negative attention. Celebrities have been acting arrogant, and the writer Ryan Holiday has written a book called “Ego is The Enemy”. Frankly, I love it because it shows the dangers of being cocky, but we can’t ignore that ego can also be beneficial.

In fact, the above study shows a relationship between mental toughness and ego strength, and that’s the lesson I’ve learned: don’t be afraid to accept your ego, be like basketball player Michael Jordan, and don’t be like professional cyclist Lance Armstrong in his prime.

Michael used his power – ego – to win, while Lance used it to destroy and manipulate others. No matter what happens in life, you must believe in yourself. Self-belief is the hallmark of a good competitor. We all fail in life, lose, and face rejection and criticism, but none of that should destroy our will to keep moving forward.

2. Composure:

Mentally mature athletes remain composed in stressful situations, and this is an essential feature of mental maturity. When you are faced with a stressful situation, you try to avoid the emotional reaction. I do not show mastery of this trait. I often got emotional during stressful situations, but at some point I got tired of these behaviors and managed to get my feelings under control.

If you want to become composed, all you need is training, and no matter what people tell you or what happens to you or what kind of situations you are in, you must always remain composed because an emotional reaction will only do harm to you and others.

3. Stress tolerance:

This trait relates to your ability to handle high risks. How do you deal with potential negative consequences? For example, if you have a high tolerance for stress, you can take the responsibility of taking a penalty kick in a final match. You take the responsibility to take the kick knowing that you will probably get a lot of negative feedback if you get it wrong. I also see people with high stress tolerance in finance.

Let’s say you manage millions of dollars of other people’s money. You shouldn’t worry about negative consequences too much because it would limit you. This is the concept of stress tolerance. In this case, I think there is a natural predisposition to tolerate stress. Some people have no problem doing these things, while others do not want to be responsible, and this is not good or bad. Not everyone needs or wants to tolerate stress, but when it comes to mental toughness, we should not be weak in the face of stress, and I find this is an important aspect of living a good life.

Use ideas from ancient philosophy to avoid fear and anxiety, including Stoicism, which I consider wonderful, as well as mindfulness, and no matter what happens, never let the fear of negative consequences stop you.

4. Energy and persistence:

They described energy and persistence in the study as “a measure of an individual’s ability to maintain a high level of activity for long periods of time.” For me, this is the biggest challenge in life and work. Oftentimes our energy is too high or too low; as a result, we cannot be persistent even if we want to, but most things in life require long-term effort before we see any kind of reward.

Think about learning a skill, getting a certificate, building a career, writing a book, etc. All these things require energy and persistence, and in my experience, persistence is of utmost importance. It is not about how quickly you can get things done, or how good you are at something, but it is about making continuous progress.

If you want to get rid of something, consider that you are destroying a wall. Destroy it bit by bit, without overburdening yourself because if you try to get rid of anything quickly, you will get tired. The secret is to manage our energy so that we can stay energetic and persistent in overcoming our challenges.

5. Thoroughness:

I think thoroughness is one of my biggest flaws. We often hear empty phrases from people during job interviews, like: “My biggest weakness is that I’m a perfectionist.” From my experience, I know most people are not. We all can be more perfect and thorough. I used to rush everything, and often overlooked details, and to some extent, I still prefer moving quickly through life.

For example, last month I created an online course and started it in five weeks, but it usually takes twice as long. However, mental toughness isn’t just about doing your job, but about doing it well. In order to succeed at anything in life, you have to be thorough. If you look at people who are successful in sports and business, you will see people who pay attention to details.

One of the most famous examples is the entrepreneur Steve Jobs. He was known to focus on the details in products – the parts we users won’t see – and the same is true of Apple’s manufacturing facilities; Everything must be precise. It is a quality, and a way of looking at the world. People like Jobs never settle for anything less than great, and I love that and take a lot of inspiration from that mindset.

6. Accepting Challenges:

People often ask me: “How can I improve these traits?” Here is my honest answer: There are no comprehensive answers. There is no single way to reach mental toughness, it is not a mathematical equation, and no one can say “Do this thing and you will be mentally mature.” From my experience, awareness of these traits is enough to reach them. In the end, none of these traits will guarantee success. This is not the goal here.

In conclusion:

I have used the above traits to describe several aspects of mental toughness. Everyone has a purpose and a path in life, and not all people have to be like Michael Jordan. Mental toughness is not about results, but about challenging yourself and becoming a better and more perfect person. I hope these traits have given you enough areas to focus on. I recommend choosing one or two traits to focus on in everyday life.