The Misconception of Mental Toughness (with Steve Magness)

Mark speaks with Steve Magness, author of Do Hard Things; why we get resilience wrong, and the surprising science of real toughness. Steve is also the co-author of The Best Selling Peak Performance and The Passion Paradox.

In his coaching practice, he has worked with executives, entrepreneurs, and athletes on performance and mental skills. He served as a consultant and mental development for professional sports teams, some of the top teams in the world, and his writing has appeared in Outside, Runner's World, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, Men's Health, and others.

Steve ran a 4.01 mile, which was the fastest in the country at the time, and the sixth fastest in US history today

Steve believes that everyone has a unique limit regarding personal performance. He encourages his clients to explore those limits by training Steve specializes in cross-domain thinking, weaving together ideas from athletics, business, and psychology to better understand performance in all aspects of life.

Key Takeaways:

• Integration is Key: When training for Peak Performance it is important to train all 5 Mountains. The Body, Mind, Emotions, Intuition, and Spirit. The foundational physical or mental movements of any sport or boardroom must be trained daily. Knowing your inner landscape is important to perform at the top. To do this you must have a healthy body and know your mind.

• How to Find the Middle Path: Put yourself in challenging situations. Do this when you are centered and healthy. This way you can find a new edge of navigating discomfort and chaos. If you don’t perform at your best in the challenging situation you have consciously put yourself in, you now have new information about where you need to train to get closer to the limit of your capabilities. There is no failure, just learning, and growth.

• Mental Toughness is Learning to Relax: Mental Toughness is not about Grit and muscling through an event. The best athletes and most successful entrepreneurs have learned how to relax and engage in narrow and big-picture focus in intense and high-stress moments.
• Utilize your Intuition: In our society, we are taught to lead with mind and practical information. Getting in tune with how intuition can inform the next action is important. That is what flow state is; a combination of knowledge, experience, and intuition all coming together to inform each subtle and gross action.

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