Life Control and Mental Strength: Warrior Mind Podcast #311

Over four years and going strong!  With over 400,000 downloads from over 9 countries and 5 continents’…. this is the Warrior Mind Podcast.

In this episode of the Warrior Mind Podcast I’m going to go to go over the first “C” in mental strength, Control and how it affects personal performance

Within Control there are two sub-scales to the Control component;

• Life Control
• Emotional Control

In this podcast, I’ll be talking about Life Control

Life Control sometimes called self-efficacy is that aspect of control which determines whether the individual has the belief that they can control enough of the world in which they operate. They can control their own thinking to approach tasks of all types with a positive attitude. They possess this sense of ‘can do’.

We’ll start by looking at what a low level of life control might mean for an individual.

Remember we are looking at how the 16% most sensitive individuals in this regard might behave and respond when asked to do something. That activity does not have to be especially challenging or difficult. It might well be something that most others might routinely carry out. However, the Mentally Sensitive individual for some reason believes they cannot do it or it will be problematic to do it.

What we are seeing here is an application of mindset. It has little to do with the individual’s ability to do what they are being asked. Ability is important but we can still see people who have ability but won’t apply it because they do not have that sense of being able to do it.

For an employee, it might be being asked to carry out an additional piece of work or learn a new skill. A good example might be to carry out a presentation to a small number of colleagues.

 Enjoy this podcast on life control and mental strength

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For a student, it might be sitting an examination or writing an assignment. Even though they may well have done this several times before they might still have it in their heads that they can’t do it.

In sport, we see perfectly capable athletes who are unable to do tasks that should be well within their capabilities simply because they believe they cannot do it.

A common example in the world of soccer is the selection of penalty takers. Although all soccer players know how to kick a ball, many will shy away from the responsibility of taking a penalty. Others will fight for the right.

The control element is an area where Mental Toughness develops strong links with positive psychology.

So, if we look at typical behaviors demonstrated by those with low levels of life control we might see some of these emerge:

• They are fatalists – they see themselves as victims and largely unable to shape what they do or are asked to do. Things just seem to happen to them.
• When they do not perform as expected or do not do what they have been asked to do they are more likely to blame others or blame their circumstances for their failure – things like resources, their setting, timing etc. These can be real or imagined – they provide a reason or excuse for not doing.
• For this reason, they may be seen as having low accountability. They can avoid taking responsibility for achieving straightforward things.
• Sometimes the signs are there even before the start an activity – when asked to do something they may readily come up with reasons why it is especially difficult for them or why it might seem to be an impossible task. They may appear to actively seek out these reasons.
• They are more likely to defer doing something they are asked to do, sometimes putting it off for as long as possible. Perhaps doing so in the hope it will go away. They are consistent procrastinators.
• And they are not comfortable when asked to do more than one thing at a time. They seem to have difficult in prioritizing and planning work, they feel overloaded very quickly.

Those with high levels of Life Control have a strong sense of ‘can do’.

They recognize that they will not be able to control every factor that impacts on their performance and wellbeing but they do have a strong belief that they shape much of what happens around them. So, they believe that most things are possible – and that it is largely down to them.

Their default response when asked to do something that most might find difficult or challenging is to say “Give it to me. I’ll find a way”.

For them the cup is “half full”. Everything is in play, it’s all possible. “We won’t know until we give it a go”. They can tend to be busy and they may like being busy.

They believe that they can make a difference and will look for the positives and the motivators in a situation. They may recognize problems and potential obstacles but they are just there to be dealt with – obstacles might stop lesser mortals but not them.

They tend to be good at planning and organization – they have a gift for translating complex and difficult tasks into plans with milestones. For that reason, they can be very effective at multi-tasking. They will happily take on several things at the same time – they will be reasonably good at doing several things at the same time. Not only will they be good at planning but they will know how to prioritize work.

They tend to demonstrate another important quality. They work hard to “do it”. They general will not fail because they did not put the effort in.

You Can’t Improve What You Can’t Measure

The Mental Toughness Questionnaire is an assessment that determines someone’s Mental Strength…at this moment.   The questionnaire also provides tips on improving your Mental Strength.  You can request the Mental Toughness Assessment by going to http://MentalStrengthMastery.com

Request an Introductory Consultation right now if you wish to learn additional information on expectations, confidence and acceptance.

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