Last modified on January 11, 2026, at 03:36

Mental toughness

“The 3 key components for success are as follows: psychological preparedness, physical conditioning, mental toughness.”- Chuck Norris[1]

Mental toughness is a personality trait that involves the ability to cope with pressure and challenges while remaining focused and in control of one's emotions and mental faculties.

According to the company Mental Toughness Partners:

“ Mental Toughness is a personality trait that determines your ability to perform consistently under stress and pressure, and is closely related to qualities such as character, resilience, grit and perseverance.

Peter Clough, Professor of Applied Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University and a pioneer on research into Mental Toughness further describes a mentally tough person as “someone who is comfortable in their own skin, can take whatever comes along in their stride and mostly enjoy the challenge”.[2]

”

Mental toughness is often referred to relative to sports and work performance and it is a predictor of success in sports, the workplace and education. Mental toughness is estimated to account for up to 25% variation in performance according to research carried out by Professor Peter Clough and his colleagues (See: MTQ mental toughness assessments).[3][4][5] In the workplace, salespeople have high levels of mental toughness compared to other workers.[6]

The Apostle Paul and the other disciples of Jesus Christ went through severe persecution and hardship without mentally breaking down (2 Corinthians 11:25-28). According to Dr. Ernest Liang at Houston Baptist University, resilience is a hallmark of Christian character.[7]

Factors that contribute to mental toughness include

SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.[8]

"To increase your mental toughness, you can: practice self-compassion, set clear goals and focus on achieving them, embrace discomfort by stepping outside your comfort zone, cultivate a positive mindset, manage negative thoughts, practice mindfulness, engage in regular physical activity, and learn to adapt to challenges by acknowledging and managing your emotions."[9] See: Self-regulation and Self-management and Emotional intelligence

Factors that contribute to mental toughness include:

  • Psychological resilience: The ability to bounce back from encountering, obstacles, setbacks and failures in order to find a new path forward.
  • Goal setting: The ability to set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals.
  • Pushing through limits to get beyond one's comfort zone: The ability to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
  • Visualization: The ability to use imagery to help achieve goals.
  • Self-talk: The ability to use positive self-talk to help achieve goals.
  • Tactical breathing: The ability to use breathing techniques to help achieve goals.

The 4 C's model is a widely used psychological model for defining and measuring mental toughness. The 4 C's are confidence, control, commitment, and challenge (See section below)

Source: How to increase mental toughness

MTQ mental toughness assessments

See also: MTQ mental toughness assessments

The MTQ assessments are psychometric measures used to assess the mental toughness of a person.[10] Professor Peter Clough of Huddersfield University and formerly of Manchester Metropolitan University, and Doug Strycharczyk, Managing Director of AQR International developed the MTQ assessments which have been verified by independent research.[11][12][13]

MTQ Plus

MTQ PLUS, the Mental Toughness Questionnaire, measures an persons's resilience and their ability to deal with pressure and change around scales of challenge, control, commitment and confidence.[14]

The 4 C's of mental toughness and their factors:[15][16]

  • Challenge (Learning from experience - even setbacks are opportunities for growth/learning (See: Growth mindset); Willingness to stretch oneself and take calculated/reasonable risks)
  • Control (Emotional control/emotional intelligence - ability to handle one's emotions and others emotions; Life control - believe you can do what you set out to do)
  • Commitment (Goal orientation; Achievement orientation and results orientation)
  • Confidence (Confidence in one's abilities; interpersonal skills confidence)

Videos on the MTQ Plus:

MTQ slide show:

4 C's of mental toughness from the MTQ assessments

According to Doug Strycharczyk: "The Control and Commitment elements broadly described Resilience – the ability to recover from adversity and past setbacks – Challenge and Confidence address the theme of positivity and optimism – the ability to face the future with eager anticipation."[17]

Challenge

Learning from experience - even setbacks are opportunities for growth/learning. Willingness to stretch oneself and take calculated/acceptable risks.

According to Doug Strycharczyk:

“ Risk Orientation is one of the two factors that contribute to our overall sense of Challenge. Challenge describes the extent to which we see opportunity or threat in the world around us and what we face and whether we learn from all our (and others) experiences of trying new things to be able to face challenge better.

Risk Orientation addresses the extent to which we see events and situations in our current situation and in the future as a source of opportunity and growth or do we see these as carrying threat and the scope for harm, setback or failure.

This is not about taking reckless risks. It is more about understanding that, in moving through life, you come across many unfamiliar settings – meeting new people, carrying out new tasks, being offered a new job, working in different locations etc. Each presents its opportunities for growth and development, and each will carry a degree of risk.

The more mentally tough recognise the opportunity, and the risk, and are minded to go for it accepting the risk. The more mentally sensitive will see the risk as too much and will prefer to stay as they are in a setting that is familiar to them and where risk is minimal.

As with all the factors, it is possible to find two people, similar in all respects, where, faced with identical situations, one will see the opportunity and the other will see the risk. The difference lies in their respective mental approaches.

This factor has resonance with ideas such as optimism, hope and courage and helps to explain how people can take a position on each. This can be significant for performance.[18]

”

Confidence

Confidence in one's abilities. Interpersonal confidence.

Control

Emotional control and life control:

Emotional control

The five components of emotional intelligence are: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.[19]

Life control

Life control - believe you can do what you set out to do.

High level of life control characteristics:[20][21]

- Strong sense of meaning and purpose in life. Belief that one can develop the skills and knowledge to achieve and overcome setbacks. See: Motivation

- Belief that you can achieve what you set out to do. See: Self-efficacy

- Belief that you can make a difference in life and situations you choose to tackle.

- Confident in ability to take on multiple projects and tasks. See: Project management and Prioritization and Time management

- Well-organized and adept at planning. See: Organizational skills and Planning

- High work ethic.

- Ability to focus. See: Concentration

- Comfortable tackling the unfamiliar. Unflappable and not rattled when unexpected things occur and/or that are behind one's control. See: Change management and Comfort zone and Emotional intelligence

- Belief you can shape and control things around you.

- Belief you can master things with enough effort.

- Recognizes and seizes good opportunities when it makes sense to do so

- Visionary and not narrow-minded. Realizes that with the aid of others a person can affect things behind one's personal control.

Commitment

Goal oriented and results/delivery oriented.

Jones, Hanton, and Connaughton study on mental toughness

See also: Attitude and Achievement orientation and Sport psychology

In a frequently cited study relative to mental toughness, the researchers Graham Jones, Sheldon Hanton and Declan Connaughton employed personal construct psychology in interviews with elite athletes/coaches and sport psychologists, and offered the following definition of mental toughness: "Having the natural or developed psychological edge that enables you to: generally, cope better than your opponents with the many demands (competition, training, lifestyle) that sport places on a performer; specifically, be more consistent and better than your opponents in remaining determined, focused, confident, and in control under pressure."[22]

The abstract of a second study of the researchers Graham Jones, Sheldon Hanton and Declan Connaughton entitled A Framework of Mental Toughness in the World’s Best Performers published in the journal The Sport Psychologist indicates:

“ The authors conducted an investigation of mental toughness in a sample population of athletes who have achieved ultimate sporting success. Eight Olympic or world champions, 3 coaches, and 4 sport psychologists agreed to participate. Qualitative methods addressed 3 fundamental issues: the definition of mental toughness, the identification of its essential attributes, and the development of a framework of mental toughness. Results verified the authors’ earlier definition of mental toughness and identified 30 attributes that were essential to being mentally tough. These attributes clustered under 4 separate dimensions (attitude/mindset, training, competition, postcompetition) within an overall framework of mental toughness. Practical implications and future avenues of research involving the development of mental toughness and measurement issues are discussed.[23] ”

Gucciardi, Gordon, and Dimmock on mental toughness

See also: Morality and Attitude and Achievement orientation and Emotional intelligence and Psychological resilience and Concentration and Motivation and Sport psychology

Using the research with Australian footballers and personal construct psychology, the Australian researchers Daniel Gucciardi, Sandy Gordon, and James Dimmock offered the this definition of mental toughness: "Mental toughness in Australian Football is a collection of values, attitudes, behaviors, and emotions that enable you to persevere and overcome any obstacle, adversity, or pressure experienced, but also to maintain concentration and motivation when things are going well to consistently achieve your goals."[24]

Overcoming and facing fears

"The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." - Proverbs 28:1

See also: Fear

Bible verses on fear and anxiety

Overcoming a fear of social rejection

See also: Social rejection

Videos:

Sales and rejection related articles

Mental toughness as a skill to be learned

Growing mental toughness

The abstract for 2013 journal article Mental toughness: what is it and how to build it published in the journal Revista da Educação Física/UEM states:

“ Mental toughness is a term that has been long talked about but often misunderstood. Fortunately, in the past 12 years, researchers have begun to study this phenomenon. Although there are differences among researchers, mental toughness appears to contain four critical attributes including motivation, coping with pressure, concentration, and confidence. In terms of developing mental toughness, one way to approach its development is to consider that it is sometimes taught and sometimes caught. Teaching mental toughness involves a deliberate attempt to train specific mental skills (e.g., goal setting, relaxation, focus) whereas sometimes mental toughness is simply caught due to environmental influences (e.g, having a sibling how was older but pushed you to be more competitive and to continually strive to improve). The paper concludes with some suggestions for future research including focusing on the early development of mental toughness as well as developing interventions to test the effectiveness of mental toughness training.[25] ”

Increasing mental toughness articles and videos

Articles/videos on how to build mental toughness:

Articles:

Videos:

Antifragility in psychology and personal development

Hercules battling a hydra.

See also: Antifragility

Antifragility is a property of systems/beings in which they increase in capability and resilience to thrive as a result of stressors, pressure, attacks, shocks, volatility, and temporary mistakes/failures.[26]

The term antifragility is often used in relation to psychology and personal development and other fields.

Antifragility and psychology/personal development

Videos:

Mental toughness and assertiveness

See also: Assertiveness and Psychological resilience and Antifragility and Interpersonal relations and Interpersonal skills

In psychology, assertiveness means an open expression of emotions, opinions and expectations, exerting interests and rights, while at the same time respecting feelings, expectations, interests and rights of others. With respect to assertiveness as quality of interpersonal communication skills, we distinguish the following behaviors:[27]

Source: Does mental toughness increase assertiveness?

Article:

Books

Quote

Mental toughness quotes

Other mental toughness quotes

Coach Herb Brooks

“Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.” – Epictetus

"Champions are famous for concentrating their energy and efforts on what they want and blocking out anything or anyone who threatens that focus. While average people haphazardly pursue loosely defined goals, champions concentrate on the attainment of a singular purpose with an intensity that borders on obsession. World-class performers invest an inordinate amount of time and energy in selecting their major goals . While the masses consider making changes every New Year’s Eve, the goal setting and planning process is an everyday habit of champions. When the goals are set, champions put mental blinders on and move forward with dogged persistence and ferocious tenacity. World-class performers create such an intense level of concentration to overcome challenges and achieve goals that it is the last thing they think about before they fall asleep, and the first thing that hits them when they wake up. The great ones dream about their goals so frequently that they often keep pen and paper on the nightstand so they can quickly record any ideas or solutions that come to them in the middle of the night. While average people see world - class performers’ successes as a matter of intelligence or luck, champions know sustained concentration of thought and action is usually the true key to their success." - Steve Siebold, 177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class, London House Press (June 23, 2010)

"The only way we can compete with the Eastern Bloc teams is if we're willing to change. Change the way we train, the way we prepare, even change our schedule. I think we need to make it longer. You know, tougher. Much more competitive. We also need to change the way we play the game. My plan is to adopt a new style. A hybrid of the Soviet school and the Canadian school. A combination that requires the highest level of conditioning, speed, creativity, and most of all, team chemistry." - Coach Herb Brooks, the movie Miracle (2004)[28]

"Indeed, if thou hurteth in thy efforts and thou suffer painful dings, then thou art doing it right." - Richard Marcinko, Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior, Pocket; Reprint edition (May 1, 1997)

"Thou hast not to like it - thou hast just to do it." - Richard Marcinko, Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior, Pocket; Reprint edition (May 1, 1997)

"I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'" - Muhammad Ali

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights." - Muhammad Ali

It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe." - Muhammad Ali

"It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen." - Muhammad Ali

Mind map of mental toughness

See also: Mind map

Mind map of mental toughness

See also

Essay:

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ Chuck Norris quote, Quote Fancy website
  2. ↑ What is Mental Toughness?
  3. ↑ MENTAL TOUGHNESS AND PEAK PERFORMANCE: IN WORK, LEADERSHIP AND LIFE, IT MATTERS by Jeff Standridge, Arkansas Money and Politics magazine
  4. ↑ Why Mental Toughness Is Critically Important?, Mental Toughness Partners
  5. ↑ Sports Psychology Tips: Mental Toughness is a Hugely Valuable Trait
  6. ↑ Mental Toughness and the effectiveness of Sales People
  7. ↑ Resilience: A Hallmark of Christian Character by Dr. Ernest Liang
  8. ↑ SMART Goals
  9. ↑ How to increase mental toughness
  10. ↑ About MTQ, Mental Toughness Partners website
  11. ↑ About MTQ, Mental Toughness Partners website
  12. ↑ Horsburgh, V.; Schermer, J.; Veselka, L.; Vernon, P. (2009). "A behavioral genetic study of mental toughness and personality". Personality and Individual Differences. 46 (2): 100–105.
  13. ↑ A behavioural genetic study of mental toughness and personality, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 46, Issue 2, January 2009, Pages 100-105
  14. ↑ About MTQ, Mental Toughness Partners website
  15. ↑ About MTQ, Mental Toughness Partners website
  16. ↑ HOW CAN YOU TELL IF YOUR TEAM IS MENTALLY TOUGH?, Bakja Consulting website
  17. ↑ Eight Factors – Risk Orientation by Doug Strycharczyk
  18. ↑ Eight Factors – Risk Orientation by Doug Strycharczyk
  19. ↑ Domains of Emotional Intelligence, MBA Knowledge Base
  20. ↑ The element of control in mental toughness
  21. ↑ How To Use Control To Be Mentally Tough
  22. ↑ Jones, G.; Hanton, S.; Connaughton, D. (2002). "What Is This Thing Called Mental Toughness? An Investigation of Elite Sport Performers". Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. 14 (3): 205–218.
  23. ↑ A Framework of Mental Toughness in the World’s Best Performers by Graham Jones, Sheldon Hanton and Declan Connaughton, The Sport Psychologist, Volume 21: Issue 2, Page Range: 243–264, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.21.2.243
  24. ↑ Gucciardi, D.; Gordon, S.; Dimmock, J. (2008). "Towards an Understanding of Mental Toughness in American Football". Journal of Applied Sport Psychology. 20 (3): 261–281. doi:10.1080/1041320080199855
  25. ↑ Mental toughness: what is it and how to build it, Revista da Educação Física, UEM 24 (1) • Mar 2013 (Published at Sci Elo Brazil website, Original language, Journal: Revista da Educação Física/UEM, Journal article name: Força mental: o que é e como construí-la, ResearchGate abstract
  26. ↑ What Does It Mean to Be Anti-Fragile?
  27. ↑ Eva Ivanová, Ľubica Kopinová, Eva Líšková (2005). ETICKÁ VÝCHOVA v 2. ročníku základnej školy (Etics for elementary schools) Metodická príručka pre učiteľov (Methodological guide for teachers) (in Slovak). Metodicko-pedagogické centrum, 16-18. 
  28. ↑ Miracle Board Room Interview