Beat DOUBT with Mental Toughness

As part of our 6-part series, this week I was going to talk about number 4, Beat Doubt with MENTAL TOUGHNESS. 

1.      You were born FEARLESS 

2.      FEAR is Only as Strong as You Allow It to Be 

3.      Focus on Outcomes Over UNCERTAINTY 

4.      Beat Doubt with MENTAL TOUGHNESS 

5.      Turn the Fear of Failure into Your Motivation  

6.      Living & Breathing Fearlessly 

Beat Doubt with MENTAL TOUGHNESS 

Doubt is the evil twin of uncertainty. In our last few writings together, we have talked about overcoming uncertainty. Today, on our path of fear, right past uncertainty comes DOUBT.

You go from “I might not be successful,” to “I’m probably not going to be successful.”  The trigger for doubt is usually one of our “how’s” going wrong. So how do we fight back against this escalator to fearVILLE? We channel our resiliency and build our mental strength. The important thing to think about is how do we build that mental strength reserve? Doubt doesn’t send us a calendar notice of when it is going to pop up, so we need to build our mental strength daily. There are so many ways to build mental strength but let me give you a few ideas that I have seen work for many of my colleagues.   

• EXERCISE - yes once you get past the initial curve of conditioning, exercise can be one of the most amazing mental strength builders. A lot of people are group exercisers, and I am super envious of them, for me, I like to be alone, get a sweat on and reflect on “how” I am going to win the day   
• READING – spending quality time reading, reflecting and simply escaping the chaos of the day, it's a simple proven way to quiet your brain
• PRAYER – getting a good prayer in is an amazing doubt reliever and leaves you feeling spiritually nourished - for that matter anything spiritual works well
• NUTRITION – getting good and healthy nutrients into your body to fuel your energy level is one of the most important things you can do to stay strong 
• FAMILY – stepping away from the grind and focusing on what may be most important to you allows you to reset your priorities and see things more clearly 
• GRATITUDE – practicing gratitude and staying positive in the moment is a de-stressor and fills our head with good vibes 
• Sleep – we all need our rest, and sometimes in the most challenging of times, we actually get less because we are worrying, when in fact we need our usual amount  

Today, we have the challenge of letting doubt seep into our daily lives. All around us, we are under attack - our jobs, our kids, our family, our friends and society at-large. We hear more about the bad that can happen, or is happening than the good.  

Is my husband going to lose his job? How am I going to handle the kids this summer? I miss my friends, and when am I going to see them again? My Mom’s birthday is this month, how are we going to celebrate? What if the grocery store runs out of toilet paper?  

My answer is direct to YOU, beat doubt with MENTAL TOUGHNESS.

Do SOMETHING today to build your mental strength, then do it again tomorrow and again every day this week. By Friday, your doubt will recede, and your confidence will reign-in. Building mental toughness isn’t a task or a project, it is a decision on how to lead your personal life and create a positive impact on those around you.

At the office as a leader of a fleet management company, my job is to be strong for our employees and clients to Keep America Moving, so that when you do order your toilet paper on Amazon, it gets to you in a bright shiny white van….I prefer the whites ones over the gray ones, thw white ones are Merchants!

b FEARLESS