Mike Gillette, the record-breaking strongman, and motivational coach, used to be in the US Army as a paratrooper and SWAT commander. During his time serving, he initially didn’t know if he had it in him to cultivate the kind and amount of mental strength needed to succeed in the military. Without any sophisticated methodology, he developed it by giving his best all the time, both physically and mentally. Through experience, he began to see that physical toughness was directly related and complementary to mental toughness. Therefore, physical improvement facilitated mental improvement and vice versa. In fact, Mike now believes that the mind is the body and the body is the mind, and there is no separation between the two.
However, many of us might tend to think that it is only those involved in what we perceive to be tough fields like professional sports or elite military units who can benefit from mental toughness training. While this is certainly true, in actuality, even people who describe themselves as ordinary probably have the most to gain when it comes to mental toughness training.
Mike believes that if you think of yourself as an average person, you are in all likelihood not engaging in strenuous activities on a regular basis. For this reason, he believes that you would theoretically have much more room to grow. Tapping this potential is something that motivates him to work with regular people. So, if you’re at a point in your life where you haven’t really done anything outside your usual scope of activities and you decide, ‘well, why don’t I try something extraordinary starting today?’ you can define that for yourself and start training for it. Once you clearly define whatever ‘badass’ thing you want to do and train the right way, you will find that your leaps in progress will be so impressive that it can only motivate you even more.
Even if you were already involved in some kind of regular or even competitive physical activity or sport, you might still be leaving some of your potential untapped. For example, if you play tennis or basketball, even if you are considered an advanced club or recreational player, you still may not be engaging in regular challenging physical training. You are just relying on the skills you may innately have or honed through experience. But have you ever done a structured, challenging physical training program?
You may be daunted about the prospect of undergoing something that seems so demanding. This is where mental toughness comes in to help you. If you are committed to your decision to improve yourself physically and you have defined what that is for you, then you also need to condition your mind to carry you through the challenging parts.
Though Mike Gillette says that there is no separation between our mental and physical aspects, he does acknowledge that people are different and some may be more cerebral and less physical, while others are the other way around. You might also think that you are one of those who belong to one of these two categories. But Mike asserts that if you really want to be successful, you have to pay equal attention to both physical and mental development. The body can go far, but with a strong mind, you’ll amaze yourself with what you can achieve.
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