The 7-Step Process to Developing Mental Fortitude

Anyone who is serious about confronting and triumphing over adversity needs to make developing mental fortitude a regular part of their life. Mental fortitude enables us to perform at our best in challenging, hazardous, or overwhelming situations by allowing us to rise to the occasion. In a similar vein, our level of mental fortitude determines whether or not we buckle under pressure when everything is on the line.

In light of this, cultivating the mental fortitude to deal with whatever comes our way is of the utmost importance. Doing so prepares us for the challenges that we face on a day-to-day basis in life as well as the challenges that we face in a world gone mad, which are the challenges that we preppers are preparing for when we are preparing for “the sh*t to hit the fan.”

Although increasing your mental fortitude is neither simple nor quick, it is possible to do so if you put in the effort, are dedicated to the process, and maintain an appropriate mindset of readiness in the form of self-improvement. These simple steps will help you get started on the path to increasing your mental strength and becoming more self-reliant. Gaining new levels of mental toughness may take some time, but following them will get you well on your way.

Recognize the Current Situation

The inability of many people to acknowledge the reality of their situation is one significant barrier that I have seen repeatedly throughout my decades of experience working in positions of high consequence. This has been one of the most challenging aspects of my work.

For instance, I listened to United States Diplomats argue that they did not require any sort of security protection while living and working in Peshawar, Pakistan. At the time, Peshawar was considered to be the center of Taliban activity. These individuals failed to recognize the seriousness of the situation. They couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that locals in the area wanted them dead for no other reason than that they were Americans.

Therefore, the very first thing that one must do in order to strengthen their mental fortitude is to acknowledge the reality of the situation. You have a greater risk of being a victim of crime if you are located in an area that has a high rate of criminal activity. It is more likely that you will sustain an injury if you are in an area that has been ravaged by a disaster and is littered with debris and rubble all over the place. In a similar vein, if you find yourself in a region that has become riddled with unpredictability and anarchy as a direct result of the disintegration of civil society, you stand a greater chance of succumbing to the effects of lawlessness.

Does that imply that if you find yourself in a challenging situation, the end of the world will ensue? No, it doesn’t. What it does mean, however, is that you have to recognize the circumstances for what they actually are. The first step in overcoming normalcy bias and opening the door to more effective decision-making that will lead to more positive actions on your behalf is to acknowledge the reality of the situation you are in. This is because acknowledging the reality of the situation is the first step.

Maintaining Command of One’s Emotions

Recognizing the gravity of our predicament requires us to put our attention squarely on exercising self-control as we deal with the psychological fallout of a crisis. If we want to be successful, we need to minimize our reactions to our emotions even though it can be difficult to maintain control over our feelings in the present moment.

When everything seems to be falling apart around us, “freaking out” is not going to make the situation any better. In a similar manner, the emotional responses of our central nervous system, which include freezing, fleeing, or fighting, are brought on by the stress of a situation. These responses can take control of our decision-making and subsequent actions, which can lead us down a path that ends in conflict and self-destruction.

In point of fact, emotional hijacking can take place at any point along a spectrum ranging from little to no emotional interference in our decision-making to a complete loss of rational decision-making. This is because emotions are not black and white. Your capacity to exercise self-control over your emotions will determine where on the continuum between being in control and being completely out of control you find yourself.

Take Command of Your Emotions

In addition to this, it depends on your capacity to assess and manage the degree to which you are emotionally activated in response to a given circumstance. For instance, I remember responding to a terrible car accident when I was working as a paramedic in Atlanta many years ago. There were a lot of injured people. It was a particularly hectic part of the day. There would be no reinforcements or assistance arriving at any point.

What I did have was two patients who were in critical condition but there was, according to the received wisdom at the time, no way to get them both to the hospital at the same time. After all, one school of thought held that even a single critically ill patient was too much for a single paramedic to handle. And it was precisely this school of thought, in addition to what seemed to be a lack of options, that quickly overwhelmed both me and the decision-making process that I was engaged in.

My central nervous system (CNS) began to take over, and it felt like someone was spinning my head around while they were trying to shut me down. During this time, I could feel my head spinning. Because this was not my first round in the CNS rodeo, when I felt it happening, I paused for a couple of seconds, took a deep breath, and reminded myself that it was not yet time to have a meltdown. Despite the limitations imposed by the human condition, it was incumbent upon me to perform accurately because the lives of others were at stake.

Therefore, I took a few slow, deep breaths, reminded myself that I could handle it, redirected my attention, and reset my nervous system. As soon as I did that, the thoughts in my head stopped spinning, and I felt my feelings of being overwhelmed, fearful, and unsure begin to dissipate. In its place, I told my partner to load them both in the back of the rig and let’s haul ass for Grady, the most capable trauma center in the area. My brain was operating at full capacity again, so I was able to make the command.

We proceeded to Grady with the patients who were losing consciousness very quickly despite the protests of my EMT Basic training partner. In the process of transporting my two life-threatening patients to the nearest hospital in a stable condition, I found myself in the back of the bus elbowing and shoving with other passengers. And it was successful. Both of them made it through the ordeal to tell their tales and spend their lives with their families.

However, the thing that worked really well was my willingness to recognize and call myself out on my feelings of being overwhelmed and losing emotional control. This was the thing that really worked well. When not doing so would have resulted in catastrophic failure, it was my self-evaluation in that moment that enabled me to self-evaluate and find a way to control my emotions when doing so would have been impossible otherwise.

Self-Evaluation

Acknowledging one’s own strengths and limitations is an essential component in the process of cultivating mental fortitude. Our acknowledgement is predicated on our capacity to examine both ourselves and our relationship to the circumstances we find ourselves in with integrity and composure.

Even if it makes us feel uneasy to admit it, our honesty is what enables us to put our pride aside and accurately assess the ways in which we are able to respond to the challenges that we face. In a similar vein, we can find a way forward without berating ourselves or feeling hopeless when confronted with adversity or opportunity if we allow ourselves the grace to be imperfect humans and accept that this is just the way we are.

This is not to say that being honest with oneself is always an easy task; quite the contrary. If, on the other hand, we are unwilling to be truthful about who we are and what we are capable of, we are doomed to fail at any attempt to achieve self-improvement, which is one of the most important preparations that can be made.

In the end, a positive, dedicated, and mentally resilient approach to today’s self-evaluation will lead to tomorrow’s strengths and improved capability, provided that it is dealt with in the same manner.

Discover What Works Best for You

We need to be ready and willing to find a way forward that is effective, just as I was when I was dealing with two critical patients in the midst of an overwhelming obstacle. This is due to the fact that, by virtue of the characteristics of adversity, it is impossible to predict from what direction it will come or what shape it will take.

Adversity wouldn’t be called adversity if it weren’t unpleasant, full of struggle, and unpredictable. These are the defining characteristics of adversity. Adversity is a ball that is pitched to us by the ever-unpredictable Murphy, and unfortunately for us, it is not only full of uncomfortable struggle but also a ball that is pitched by Murphy. We simply do not know how or to what degree the difficulties of life will manifest themselves in the future.

As a result, we have to be adaptable and willing to modify our strategy in order to deal with whatever comes down the road toward us. After all, we are only able to adapt on the fly and deal with issues as they arise if we are flexible and willing to view potential issues from as many different perspectives as possible. This allows us to see potential issues from as many angles as possible.

Because of this, it is preferable to avoid the necessity of coming up with solutions on the spot if one wishes to maintain the capacity to respond fluidly and effectively to both potential and actual developments in the course of events. In other words, by employing actions that have been carefully deliberated upon and practiced in advance, we can improve our ability to deal with challenging circumstances. We are able to use our planned and trained responses as a foundation for any situation we may find ourselves in if we first become proficient in those responses and then train ourselves to use them.

If our foundational responses are more effective, it will be much simpler and more straightforward for us to be mentally resilient and effective in overcoming whatever challenges we face.

Training Training Training

Training is an essential component in the process of enhancing one’s mental toughness. You will be able to better observe a situation and orient yourself to the particulars of what is happening if you have training, whether that training consists of simply thinking through scenarios whenever you have a free moment or attending actual classes held in a physical location. And as a final step, as a result, make better choices and take better actions.

To achieve maximum performance, it is necessary to train and challenge one’s mind in the same way that one trains and challenges one’s muscles. The more we put our brains to work and force ourselves to think critically, the more powerful they will become. Therefore, what should we do?

Now, as I’ve already mentioned, there are classes and programs that you can enroll in that will stimulate thought and cause you to reconsider the way you approach various tasks. Take some time to reflect on potential challenges, obstacles, and opportunities, as well as how you would approach dealing with them if they arose, and this will be much simpler.

I recommend noting it down in a diary or writing it down on some paper. The reason for this is that keeping a journal, as corny as the idea may sound, is an excellent way to not only think thoughts, but also to have your mind process those thoughts to the point where you are able to write them down. Because writing our thoughts down activates and causes more brain involvement, it enables us to process and think about our ideas in greater depth and from a wider variety of perspectives.

For me, putting my thoughts down on paper often helps me see connections between them and other possibilities that I had not previously considered. My mind is expanded as a result of this activity, allowing me to consider additional possibilities. In turn, this helps me realize other solutions and options that I wouldn’t have explored or discovered if it weren’t for the situation.

Create a More Optimistic Outlook on Life

To improve your mental toughness, one of the most important things you can do is work on developing a more optimistic mindset. This optimistic frame of mind is applicable not only to the challenges that life presents, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to life in general.

I say this is more important because if we have a negative mindset in our day-to-day lives, that mindset will carry over into how we think when the going gets tough and we are confronted with challenges. Despite the fact that it may be challenging, keeping a positive mindset throughout our daily lives will have a positive effect on us when we find ourselves with our backs against the wall.

Keeping an optimistic frame of mind can be difficult, particularly in a world that is fraught with adversity and anxiety. Nevertheless, despite the fact that choosing to concentrate on the positive rather than the negative is a challenge, it is a choice. You can choose to look at the situation as though the glass is half full or half empty. And yes, when you’re in one of life’s deep dark holes, searching for the positive is a monumental effort, but it’s a choice nonetheless. And yes, when you’re in one of life’s deep dark holes, searching for the positive is a choice.

The reality is that overcoming adversity is already a challenge in and of itself. Confronting challenges with a pessimistic and unfavorable frame of mind will only serve to make things more difficult for everyone involved. When it comes to being prepared, however, making a bad situation even worse is not a component of the recipe for success.

Get Back Up, Brush Yourself Off, and Start Over

Last but not least, part of developing your mental fortitude and mental strength involves accepting the fact that there will be times when you fall short of your goals. There is no guarantee that everything will work out, much less that everything will work out in the way that we had hoped it would.

You should prepare yourself for some difficulties. We all do! A life devoid of obstacles is a life that has not been fully lived. Our ability to learn and grow is directly proportional to the amount of setbacks, failures, and shortcomings we experience. After all, we are committing errors on a daily basis even if we perform a task adequately enough to get by even though we do something slightly incorrectly each day. We will only be in a position to perform at our highest level if we are willing to admit to and learn from our shortcomings.

When, despite your best efforts, you find yourself at your wit’s end, screwed up, and struggling, that is the time to double down, dig in, and drive on. When you find yourself at your wit’s end, screwed up, and struggling, that is the time to drive on. Don’t throw in the towel!

People often ask me as a former member of the Army Ranger Regiment how I was able to pass selection and join the Ranger Regiment. The response is straightforward: I have never given up. I wanted to quit the classes every time the instructors were being extremely harsh with us, but I resisted the urge to do so. Every day, I dusted myself off and got back in the driver’s seat; you can do the same!

Getting Down to the Nuts and Bolts of Improving Your Mental Toughness

Over the course of my career in emergency medical services (EMS), special operations, and providing security in hostile environments, I’ve come to the conclusion that we all possess a remarkable level of mental toughness. Simply put, we need to work on finding ways to tap into it. When we do, each of us will have the capacity to be mentally tough people.

The Final Word

It’s never too late to work on improving your mental toughness. And as I often say, if we put in the effort to improve our mental fitness, each one of us has the potential to become an Army Ranger, Navy Seal, or Green Beret. You are free to choose either option.