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“STAY FOCUSED on your destination even though your path may seem stormy today.” – Billy Cox
One of the reasons we lose focus is because the brain itself can be antagonistic, especially when we’re trying to achieve long term goals. Science has uncovered the silly, irrational practices our brains make to unintentionally interfere with our goals, such as procrastinating, over-fantasizing, and over-thinking. To be direct, our brain is our biggest enemy in living the life that we’ve always wanted!
The good news is that, like every important part in our body, we can strengthen our brain and develop “mental toughness.” It’s probably the most important part to give a workout since it’s pretty much the manager of our lives; it could either make us or break us. So the first step in achieving goals is to train ourselves mentally.
Start with these two traits: Self-control and Persistence. Self-control tastes bitter like medicine but it cures the brain from visceral impulses, negative emotions, and bad behaviours that do nothing but postpone or even cancel our success. It helps us overcome the temptation to put our goals on hold. Persistence on the other hand keeps us motivated and focused even when the boat is rocking. It’s what separates the ordinary from the extra-ordinary. It’s going another mile even if we already feel like giving up.
Mental toughness happens when we’ve inculcated these hard but attainable traits in our habits. The more we persist and self-control, the easier it is for us to kick the obstacles in our head and focus on the REAL problems instead.
