Mental strength

The more I cycle longer and longer distances, the more I come to realise how important mental strength is, to me at least, especially on really tough rides or when the weather is not good. I am also finding more and more that it is key to a lot of things off the bike. 

In work for example, I am recently self employed so the success of my job depends on me alone. The same mental strength techniques I use on the bike to keep me going, or get me back in the saddle when I am thinking about quitting, are the same ones I use in the business world.

There are countless books on the subject so I am not about to pretend I am an expert in the subject. I have some techniques I keep in reserve for use when needed, on and off the bike, and they work for me. And I have tested them on and off the bike in a number of difficult situations so I can vouch for how beneficial mental strength techniques can be. 

Different things work for different people, but the key to all of them is being mentally strong in order to get through tricky situations that really test you and show you what you're made of. If you can endure the pain, accept it as a normal part of life and not your enemy (also core to Buddhism), then you're half way there. Finding the ways to get you there is the hard part, but if you work it out for yourself and get through the other side, whether that is in a business sense or on a bike ride that is pushing you to your limits, then the rewards and feeling of satisfaction are 100% worth the effort. And I do think you become a strong person in the process too.

That's all on this post, I'm boring myself now!!! If you want to read about this topic more, you can do a lot worse than reading the navy seals training guide for mental toughness. Those guys wrote the book on mental toughness, literally!