Mental Toughness

I just had a fabulous get-together with some of my teacher friends. We decided to have a little 'last hurrah' before school starts in 2 weeks (bah!) full of chit chatting and yummy food and drinks! Well, my cute teammate came across something she used throughout high school when she was on the track team. She is absolutely darling and made a copy for each of us and framed it so we could put it up at home or school. 

I wanted to share it with you. Because even though teaching is wonderful, fun and a very rewarding job, some days it sucks. We all have days where we don't feel good, when we are feeling stressed and emotionally drained. Days when we'd rather be somewhere else doing something else. And on those days, it's easy to make excuses. This is going on my desk at work so I can read it on those days! I hope it gives you some motivation like it did for me when I read it. 

MENTAL TOUGHNESS

Nobody ever said it would be easy. Sometimes you have to perform at your best when you're feeling your worst. Handle it the way champions do, block out the hurt, the pain and the sickness from your head. Concentrate instead on what you must do to win. Shape up. Get it together. And just do it! Excuses don't count. Anybody can make them up. Nobody cares if you are hurt, sick, or tired. Either do it or don't, it's that simple. 

There are times when you'd rather be elsewhere doing something more exciting. But we know that winners in life face up to the challenges at hand, while the losers make up excuses to avoid them. You must win the mental battle if you really want to be a winner. 

You must be confident, enthusiastic, and positive. You must work harder even when you're sick, hurt, sad, or troubled. That's mental toughness. 

Life is easy when the going is good. Mental toughness comes into play when the going gets bad. Mental toughness is also the ability to keep working towards a long term goal, while going throttle to win a short-term battle even in the face of adversity. 

IT'S TRADITION. IT'S PRIDE. IT'S MENTAL TOUGHNESS.