The 4 Cs, the building blocks of resilience and mental toughness
Resilience, mental toughness and grit are buzz words describing an attitude that seemingly everybody is striving to achieve.
Resilience is not something you are born with, it is made up of skills and attitudes that can be learned! What are those skills and attitudes you ask? They start with what Maddi identified as the 3 Cs of stress hardiness, but with recent studies on the importance of relationships I have added a 4th C. The 1st 3 Cs are: Control, Commitment and Challenge. The 4th is Connection. It is from these attitudes that skills are built and used.
3 steps to build confidence
You are on the starting line of a race. Your heart is pounding, your thoughts are running, doubts are creeping in. Or, you are out on course, something has not gone your way, maybe the weather has kicked up, wind is churning up chop, or the rain has started to fall. Maybe you have been dropped by the group. Where does your brain go in these moments? Does this lead to a drop in your confidence? If so, you are not alone! So how do we get through these situations? We have three steps to build and use confidence: 1. Do hard things 2. Use motivational self talk 3. Be prepared.
Finding motivation
It’s winter in the northern hemisphere. In the northern latitudes the days are short and often gray. We are missing sunshine and the freedom to easily go outside. This is the time of year when our motivation to workout and train tends to dip. But good news! There are ways to light a fire under that motivation.