If you're struggling hard with a test, then picture yourself going through confidently and answering all the questions correctly.

Do this just before the task itself, and try to stay in that confident head-space. That's where you want to be. Do mental exercises. Playing games that involve your focus and attention can have a positive impact on your ability to focus in the long-term. The ability to assemble lots of different information and come to a conclusion is what focus is all about.

Difficult games and mental exercises require you to do just that. Try playing the following types of focus-building games: Chess Sudoku Crossword puzzles Turn-based strategy games. Try to learn new words.

Vocabulary building may not seem tied to focus necessarily, but the ability to absorb new information regularly is an important part of overall focus and mental stamina.

Make a habit of trying to learn a few new words every month, and keep them rotating in your usage. Be a student of words. Learn a new language , if you're feeling really ambitious. Taking on an entirely different vocabulary can open up your mind in exciting ways.

Part 2. Read more. A recent study revealed that people who read novels regularly are able to empathize more easily, and have an easier time paying attention for longer. Read everything. You don't have to read heavy classic novels to get the most out of this.

Read Westerns or Romance novels. Read the newspaper. Read magazines you like. Read it all. Schedule regular breaks. A recent study revealed that taking regular quick breaks, less than five minutes every hour, is better than taking a single long break in the middle of a difficult task.

So, let yourself stop doing what you're doing at least once an hour. Get up, walk around, and turn your mind off for a minute. It's usually easier to remember to take one big break, usually for eating, but set a timer to go off every 50 minutes or so, to remind yourself to give yourself a break and do nothing.

You need that time. Limit your Internet usage. A Pew Study recently linked the increased availability of high-speed Internet services with a diminished attention capacity in American teenagers. You can also use Internet blockers to help you out if you find the lure of messing around too strong when you're trying to work on your computer.

Delete unnecessary apps from your phone. You'll spend less time clicking around on Facebook and other social media if you can't do it in transit. Invest in detailed games and stories. Entertainment isn't all equal. Some stuff is difficult to sit through, but learning to appreciate the fun in a long game of chess, or the story told in Anna Karenina can help your attention span improve in other parts of your life.

Decide to enjoy something that's slow and quiet, instead of looking for flash-bang fun. Watch fewer YouTube clips and short little.

gif sites. If you want to sit down and invest in something, watch an engaging movie, documentary, or long-form show that you're interested in.

You can have fun to, and you don't have to actually like reading Anna Karenina. Mental stamina isn't just an excuse to be pretentious. Form an opinion, but focus and pay attention enough to form that opinion.

Don't beat yourself up for slips. Everybody has trouble concentrating sometimes Even Einstein did! Try not to get too discouraged about your mental stamina, or you risk making it worse. If you're stressed and anxious, your ability to concentrate for a longer period of time with be diminished significantly.

Try to relax as much as possible and think positively. Part 3. Get more sleep. Sleep gives your brain and body time to recover and rejuvenate.

If you want to get the most out of your mind, give it plenty of time to turn off at the end of the day with good-quality rest. While most doctors and sleep scientists agree that humans require around 8 hours of sleep per night, individuals differ widely.

You know your body best-if waking up in the morning feels like the end of the world, then you're likely not getting enough. Don't eat, or drink any caffeine, alcohol, or sugary beverages shortly before bed. When your body's working to digest, your sleep suffers in quality.

Change your diet. What you put into your body affects the way your mind works. If you've got a day of heavy lifting in the brain department, make sure you eat a diet rich in protein, slow-digesting carbohydrates, and fresh fruits and vegetables to get your brain firing on all cylinders.

Oatmeal, fruit, cereal, toast, and yogurt are all great breakfast choices if you've got to do some heavy thinking over the course of a day. Of course, if you're a coffee drinker, it's fine to have a cup-but stop after one. Avoid heavy saturated fats, sugary foods, and high caffeine levels.

Over-doing the caffeine will almost certainly cause you to crash, and the first thing to suffer will be your mental stamina.

Cut back on caffeine if you're a regular user. Drink plenty of water. Try to drink as much as two liters of water a day, to make sure that your body and its organs are being replenished and rejuvenated. Do physical exercise as well as mental.

Get your body moving to help get your mind clear. Clearly, part of the answer is coming up with positive reminders. You don't necessarily need to share them with the public. The idea is to boost yourself up at the beginning and at the end of the day.

This can be difficult for those of us who automatically beat ourselves up at the drop of a hat. Instead, think about what your biggest supporter in life — a partner, sibling, friend, mentor or parent — would tell you, and then tweet or say it to yourself.

Science has shown again and again that spending time in nature has positive effects on our mental health. A study , for example, found that it can significantly increased your emotional well-being and resilience.

You don't need live next to a forest to immerse yourself in nature. A nearby park or any quiet environment with greenery where there aren't that many people around will work just fine.

Breathe, relax and become aware of the sounds, smells and sights. Use all your senses to create a heightened awareness of the natural world. This exercise boosts your overall resilience as it acts as a kind of restoration of energy and reset to your equilibrium.

Wendy Suzuki , PhD, is a neuroscientist and professor of Neural Science and Psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University. She is also the author of "Good Anxiety: Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion.

Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter. Skip Navigation. Related Stories. Health and Wellness Harvard psychologist: If you can say 'yes' to these 9 questions, you're 'more emotionally secure than most'.

Leadership Kevin Hart shares his No. Raising Successful Kids I've studied over kids—here are 6 things kids with high emotional intelligence do every day.

Leadership Build these 2 'strength skills' to be more successful, says psychotherapist. Over time, you will develop mental toughness during these specific intervals which will translate to enhanced focus at those critical moments.

Setting specific short-term goals on a regular basis will take your training to the next level of performance! We all want to have a good performance on race day. But how many athletes actually visualize what they will need to do during competition in order to achieve their goals?

Whether you do it in the few seconds before the gun goes off, or the minutes before your head hits the pillow every night, making visualization part of your training routine will bring you one step closer to mental toughness. However, like physical training, the key is repetition and specificity.

If you only visualize one time before the race for a few seconds, chances are you will not even remember it and there will be no positive impact on your performance.

Similarly, if you simply visualize a general swim start without any specific details about your strategy, the impact will be negligible.

Repeating this vision before every open water swim training session will increase the likelihood of a favorable outcome on race day.

Repetition and specificity will make your visualization more efficient, which is a valuable tool to have in your mental toughness arsenal.

When things get tough, what do you say to yourself? Much like visualization, positive self-talk is a strategy that should be repeated during your regular training routine in order to be most effective. Find a few mantras that work best for you, and are related to each sport or discipline.

Remember—you are saying them in your head or to yourself, so nobody has to know! Every athlete with competitive experience will tell you that unexpected things happen during races.

Gratitude helps us to keep things in perspective, even during the most challenging times. To raise a mentally strong child you should encourage them to practice gratitude on a regular basis.

Accepting responsibility for your actions or mistakes is also part of building mental strength involves. Children who understand their range of feelings see the Emotion Wheel and have experience dealing with them are better prepared to deal with the ups and downs of life.

To encourage mental strength in your students or children, you must demonstrate mental strength. Show them that you make self-improvement a priority in your life, and talk about your goals and steps you take to grow stronger.

Below we will explore a number of different strategies and techniques used to improve mental resilience. Skills to be learned will depend on the individual. For example, some might benefit from improving cognitive skills such as working memory or selective attention, which will help with everyday functioning.

Others might benefit from learning new hobbies activities through competency-based learning. Acquiring new skills within a group setting gives the added benefit of social support, which also cultivates resilience.

The ability to develop goals , actionable steps to achieve those goals , and to execute, all help to develop will-power and mental resilience. Goals can be large or small, related to physical health, emotional wellbeing, career, finance, spirituality, or just about anything. Goals that involve skill-acquisition will have a double benefit.

For example, learning to play an instrument or learning a new language. Some research indicates that setting and working towards goals beyond the individual, i.

religious involvement or volunteering for a cause, can be especially useful in building resiliency. This may provide a deeper sense of purpose and connection, which can be valuable during challenging times. Controlled exposure refers to the gradual exposure to anxiety-provoking situations, and is used to help individuals overcome their fears.

Research indicates that this can foster resilience, and especially so when it involves skill-acquisition and goal setting — a triple benefit. Public speaking, for example, is a useful life skill but also something that evokes fear in many people. People who are afraid of public speaking can set goals involving controlled exposure, in order to develop or acquire this particular skill.

They can expose themselves to a small audience of one or two people, and progressively increase their audience size over time. This type of action plan can be initiated by the individual, or it can be developed with a therapist trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Successful efforts can increase self-esteem and a sense of autonomy and mastery, all of which can be utilized in times of adversity. shares 11 strategies for building mental resilience:.

Resilience can be strengthened through our connection to family, friends, and community. Healthy relationships with people who care about you and will listen to your problems, offer support during difficult times and can help us to reclaim hope.

Likewise, assisting others in their time of need can benefit us greatly and foster our own sense of resilience. We cannot change the external events happening around us, but we can control our reaction to these events. Take notice of the subtle ways in which you may already start feeling better as you deal with the difficult situation.

They say that the only thing constant in life is change. As a result of difficult circumstances, certain goals may no longer be realistic or attainable. By accepting that which you cannot change, it allows you to focus on the things that you do have control over. Try to accomplish one small step towards your goal every day.

Instead of shying away from problems and stresses, wishing they would just go away, try to take decisive action whenever possible. Sometimes tragedy can result in great learnings and personal growth. Living through a difficult situation can increase our self-confidence and sense of self-worth, strengthen our relationships, and teach us a great deal about ourselves.

Many people who have experienced hardship have also reported a heightened appreciation for life and deepened spirituality. Working to develop confidence in yourself can be beneficial in preventing difficulties, as well as building resilience. Having a positive view of yourself is crucial when it comes to problem-solving and trusting your own instincts.

When times get tough, always remember that things could be worse; try to avoid blowing things out of proportion.

In cultivating resilience it helps to keep a long-term perspective when facing difficult or painful events. When we focus on what is negative about a situation and remain in a fearful state, we are less likely to find a solution.

Try to maintain a hopeful, optimistic outlook, and expect a positive outcome instead of a negative one. Visualization can be a helpful technique in this respect. Self-care is an essential strategy for building resilience and helps to keep your mind and body healthy enough to deal with difficult situations as they arise.

Taking care of yourself means paying attention to your own needs and feelings, and engaging in activities that bring you joy and relaxation.

Regular physical exercise is also a great form of self-care. Resilience building can look like different things to different people.

Journaling , practicing gratitude , meditation , and other spiritual practices help some people to restore hope and strengthen their resolve.

The American Psychological Association defines resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors.

Resilience is not a trait that people either have or do not have. It involves behaviors, thoughts, and actions that can be learned and developed in anyone. Research has shown that resilience is ordinary, not extraordinary and that people commonly demonstrate resilience. In fact, a considerable amount of emotional distress is common in people who have dealt with difficulties and trauma in their lives.

Many factors contribute to resilience, but studies have shown that the primary factor is having supportive relationships within and outside of the family.

When it comes to developing resilience , strategies will vary between each individual. We all react differently to traumatic and stressful life events, so an approach that works well for one person might not work for another.

For example, some variation as to how one might communicate feelings and deal with adversity may reflect cultural differences, etc. Taking a look at past experiences and sources of personal strength may provide insight as to which resilience building strategies will work for you.

Exploring the answers to these questions can help you develop future strategies. A resilient mindset is a flexible mindset. As you encounter stressful circumstances and events in your life, it is helpful to maintain flexibility and balance in the following ways:.

Sometimes the support of family and friends is just not enough. Know when to seek help outside of your circle. People often find it helpful to turn to:.

On a rafting trip, you can encounter all kinds of different waters — rapids, slow water, shallow water and all kinds of crazy turns. Much like in life, these changing circumstances affect your thoughts, mood, and the ways in which you will navigate yourself.

In life, as in traveling down a river, it helps to have past experience and knowledge from which to draw on. Your journey should be guided by a strategy that is likely to work well for you. Other important aspects include confidence and belief in your abilities to navigate the sometimes choppy waters, and perhaps having trusted companions to accompany and support you on the ride.

The Resilience Builder Program for Children and Adolescents — Enhancing Social Competence and Self-Regulation is an innovative program designed to increase resilience in youth. The book is based on a week resilience-based group therapy program and applies Cognitive Behavioral Theory and strategies.

The program outlines 30 group sessions that work on the areas of self-esteem, self-control, confidence and coping strategies Karapetian Alvord, Zucker, Johnson Grados, Key competencies addressed in each session include self-awareness, flexible thinking, and social competence.

These group activities help develop specific protective factors associated with resilience. The program includes relaxation techniques such as visualization , calm breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and yoga , to enhance self-regulation.

Resilience Builder Program is inventive, well thought out, sequenced and formatted, and offers a well-structured group framework, concrete enough for beginners. If you are looking for a detailed program to teach your child or student how to be resilient, this is an excellent option.

If you are a coach, teacher or counselor and it is your passion to help others become more resilient, then the Realizing Resilience Masterclass© is exactly what you need. Consisting of six modules which include positive psychology, resilience, attention, thoughts, action and motivation, this comprehensive online course will provide you with key psychological concepts, in an easily digestible manner for anyone that is new to the field.

Upon completion of the self-paced course, you will be awarded a certificate and can use the extensive library of tools, worksheets, videos, and presentations to teach resiliency. Mental Stamina is the single defining trait that enables us to endure the adversities of life.

It is essential for withstanding both long-term challenges or unforeseen and unexpected struggles, concerns or trauma, and is only developed by practice and repetition. Often when we talk about stamina we reference elite athletes and sports teams, as both physical and mental stamina is crucial for this type of performance.

However, everyone can benefit from increased mental stamina, not just athletes. Although no one builds mental stamina overnight, below Corb n. offers 5 tips for building your mental stamina over time:. Training yourself to think optimistically and find the positive in every situation will most certainly help to build mental stamina over time.

Visualization is an excellent tool for managing stress, overwhelming situations, and performance anxiety. Close your eyes and imagine a time that you succeeded in a similar situation. This includes remembering the feeling that accompanied that achievement, not just the visual.

Life most certainly does not always go the way we hoped or planned that it would. We cannot control the external events that happen around us, but we can control what we do afterward.

Our ability to manage stress plays a large role in our ability to build mental stamina. Though not all stress is bad — positive stress excitement can be a motivating factor — it has the same physical effects on our bodies.

Useful techniques for managing stress include meditation and progressive muscle relaxation. Sufficient sleep can help with on-the-spot decision making and reaction time. A sufficient amount of sleep is said to be seven to nine hours, or more if you are performing high-stress activities, both physical and mental.

Community resilience is the sustained ability of a community to utilize available resources energy, communication, transportation, food, etc. to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations e. economic collapse to global catastrophic risks Bosher, L.

Successful adaptation in the aftermath of a disaster ensures that a community can return to normal life as effortlessly as possible. As is the case when faced with any problem, a community should implement a plan of action in order to come together and rebuild after a disaster.

Below are the key components necessary for a community to build collective resilience after a tragedy:. While Mental Health Awareness draws attention to the importance of valuing your own mental health, it is also about positively impacting the lives and mental wellness of the people around you.

Furthermore, a strong social support network has been linked to a decrease in alcohol use, cardiovascular disease, and depressive thoughts Cherry, So do yourself and the ones around you a favor and remind them how loved and deserving they are of a little mood boost.

Remember : you never know what somebody else might be going through, so your random act of kindness might make a world of difference. Resilience is a very important aspect of any relationship. Relationships require ongoing attention and cultivation, especially during times of adversity.

Have you ever wondered what makes some friendships or romantic relationships more likely to survive than others?

Below, Everly suggests certain factors which seem to foster resiliency in relationships, and increase their likelihood of survival. Active optimism is not just hoping that things will turn out well, rather, it is believing that things will turn out well and then taking action that will lead to a better outcome.

In a relationship, this means an agreement to avoid critical, hurtful, cynical comments, and to instead, work together to harness the power of a positive self-fulfilling prophecy. When we commit to accepting responsibility for our actions, being loyal to one another and forgiving each other and ourselves , we are bound to cultivate resilience within our relationships.

This includes the old adage that honesty is the best policy, regardless of the outcome and consequences. This means having the courage to take action, even when the action is unpopular or provokes anxiety in a relationship. Tenacity is to persevere , especially in the face of discouragement, setbacks, and failures.

You might notice yourself less anxious when talking to your manager , or less likely to pick fights with your partner. There are many kinds of mindfulness practices , so pick whichever one you enjoy and fits your lifestyle. Try mindful breathing , walking meditation, or joining a virtual yoga class.

Working with a mental health professional or coach can be really helpful in developing mental strength. Psychotherapists often do this by using CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy. This technique is especially helpful for mental health disorders like depression and anxiety.

Coaches, on the other hand, can help provide accountability as you work towards your goals. They can help reframe setbacks, prevent you from slipping into bad habits, and keep you motivated. If you want to check in with your mental strength on a regular basis, keeping a journal is a great idea.

It can help you keep tabs on your personal growth over time, which is great for building your self-esteem. Try free-writing for several minutes, goal-setting, or making notes of any stressors that seem particularly overwhelming. Sometimes, the act of writing things down helps our brains begin to work through our challenges.

Building self-compassion actually helps us build resilience. Focusing on what we do well — instead of all of our failures — keeps us in a growth mindset while avoiding the downward spiral.

Throw yourself in the deep end! Sign up for a class, grab coffee with someone who intimidates you, or apply for your dream job on LinkedIn. Whatever it is, pay attention to how you respond when the scary feelings come up.

Write them down in your journal, and then respond to them as you would to a good friend. Journaling, practicing mindfulness , and connecting with a coach can all be part of this routine. You want to prioritize anything that encourages you to stop, reflect, and question.

Choose thoughts and behaviors that make you feel confident. Be sure that your daily routine also includes self-care practices. Prioritize basic wellness, like getting enough rest, watching for the signs of physical and mental fatigue , and being mindful about what you eat.

One of the strongest predictors of life satisfaction is our relationships with others. We need to have loved ones close to us — to celebrate our wins, push us forward, and comfort us in tough times. Have fun, spend time with the people you love, and do things that make you happy.

Joy insulates us against stress and keeps us going when we want to give up the fight. Just announced! Explore the agenda for Uplift April 10—11 in SF. EN - US English US Deutsch English GB Français. Integrations Explore how BetterUp connects to your core business systems. Powered by AI We pair AI with the latest in human-centered coaching to drive powerful, lasting learning and behavior change.

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Careers Join us and create impactful change. Leadership Team Meet the leadership that's passionate about empowering your workforce. Difficult games and mental exercises require you to do just that. Try playing the following types of focus-building games: Chess Sudoku Crossword puzzles Turn-based strategy games.

Try to learn new words. Vocabulary building may not seem tied to focus necessarily, but the ability to absorb new information regularly is an important part of overall focus and mental stamina. Make a habit of trying to learn a few new words every month, and keep them rotating in your usage.

Be a student of words. Learn a new language , if you're feeling really ambitious. Taking on an entirely different vocabulary can open up your mind in exciting ways. Part 2.

Read more. A recent study revealed that people who read novels regularly are able to empathize more easily, and have an easier time paying attention for longer. Read everything. You don't have to read heavy classic novels to get the most out of this.

Read Westerns or Romance novels. Read the newspaper. Read magazines you like. Read it all. Schedule regular breaks. A recent study revealed that taking regular quick breaks, less than five minutes every hour, is better than taking a single long break in the middle of a difficult task.

So, let yourself stop doing what you're doing at least once an hour. Get up, walk around, and turn your mind off for a minute. It's usually easier to remember to take one big break, usually for eating, but set a timer to go off every 50 minutes or so, to remind yourself to give yourself a break and do nothing.

You need that time. Limit your Internet usage. A Pew Study recently linked the increased availability of high-speed Internet services with a diminished attention capacity in American teenagers. You can also use Internet blockers to help you out if you find the lure of messing around too strong when you're trying to work on your computer.

Delete unnecessary apps from your phone. You'll spend less time clicking around on Facebook and other social media if you can't do it in transit. Invest in detailed games and stories. Entertainment isn't all equal. Some stuff is difficult to sit through, but learning to appreciate the fun in a long game of chess, or the story told in Anna Karenina can help your attention span improve in other parts of your life.

Decide to enjoy something that's slow and quiet, instead of looking for flash-bang fun. Watch fewer YouTube clips and short little.

gif sites. If you want to sit down and invest in something, watch an engaging movie, documentary, or long-form show that you're interested in. You can have fun to, and you don't have to actually like reading Anna Karenina.

Mental stamina isn't just an excuse to be pretentious. Form an opinion, but focus and pay attention enough to form that opinion. Don't beat yourself up for slips. Everybody has trouble concentrating sometimes Even Einstein did!

Try not to get too discouraged about your mental stamina, or you risk making it worse. If you're stressed and anxious, your ability to concentrate for a longer period of time with be diminished significantly.

Try to relax as much as possible and think positively. Part 3. Get more sleep. Sleep gives your brain and body time to recover and rejuvenate. If you want to get the most out of your mind, give it plenty of time to turn off at the end of the day with good-quality rest.

While most doctors and sleep scientists agree that humans require around 8 hours of sleep per night, individuals differ widely. You know your body best-if waking up in the morning feels like the end of the world, then you're likely not getting enough.

Don't eat, or drink any caffeine, alcohol, or sugary beverages shortly before bed. When your body's working to digest, your sleep suffers in quality.

Change your diet. What you put into your body affects the way your mind works. If you've got a day of heavy lifting in the brain department, make sure you eat a diet rich in protein, slow-digesting carbohydrates, and fresh fruits and vegetables to get your brain firing on all cylinders.

Oatmeal, fruit, cereal, toast, and yogurt are all great breakfast choices if you've got to do some heavy thinking over the course of a day.

Of course, if you're a coffee drinker, it's fine to have a cup-but stop after one. Avoid heavy saturated fats, sugary foods, and high caffeine levels. Over-doing the caffeine will almost certainly cause you to crash, and the first thing to suffer will be your mental stamina. Cut back on caffeine if you're a regular user.

Drink plenty of water. Try to drink as much as two liters of water a day, to make sure that your body and its organs are being replenished and rejuvenated. Do physical exercise as well as mental.

Get your body moving to help get your mind clear. There are direct connections between exercise and mood, and exercise releases positive mood hormones in your brain that helps you stay positive and upbeat, an essential part of focus. Use exercise as a break, or as a way to meditate.

Just going on a short brisk walk after meals can be a great way of getting a little exercise. De-stress regularly. Your mind needs both exercise and an occasional break.

If you tend toward the obsessive, or have trouble shutting your brain off, it can make it very challenging to focus.