Building Mental Toughness: The 40% Rule
When speaking about top athletes and performers such as Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Lionel Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo, we often distinguish their success through their dedication, grit, perseverance, ambition, and ability to push harder. These rare traits can be described as the “40% Rule” which was first coined by David Goggins.
What is the 40% Rule?
The 40% rule explains that when your mind and body are starting to tire and you feel like giving up, you are only at 40 per cent of what you are truly capable of achieving. The reason for this is that your brain instinctively sets up boundaries and barriers to protect you from uncomfortable and harmful situations. The brain can protect you by pushing limiting beliefs to the front of your head or making you physically exhausted.
Video: THE 40 PERCENT RULE - Powerful Motivational Video
How Does the 40% Rule Apply to Me?
The 40% rule can apply to much of your daily life to push you hard into success, here are some examples:
Working Out
Whether you are working out in the gym or going for a long run, after a while your brain and body will start to tell you to stop as your legs or arms start to scream in pain. However, signs do not mean your body can no longer do more because even if you stop, you can do more reps or distance. It is the mental barriers that your brain sets up which prevents you from achieving higher success.
Learning a New Skill
When learning a new skill, you will hit a barrier where you feel you can no longer learn. The brain is sending you barriers to get you to stop trying and give up because it knows your body and mind are being frustrated in learning or you are feeling tired. All these factors are mental barriers that your mind has set up to stop you but you can do more. Spend a few more minutes or hours practising your skill/craft to improve your capabilities.
How to Build Mental Toughness?
Get Rid of Limiting Beliefs
Your mind will start to form negative beliefs to stop you from doing what you are doing. To get rid of these beliefs is to replace them with a positive mindset and the best way to do this is with your self-talk. You can use positive affirmations like “I can do this” and “keep pushing”; by doing this you train your brain to start believing in yourself.
Break Out of Your Comfort Zone
By exposing yourself to uncomfortable situations you are letting your fears grow bigger and bigger, making you even more withdrawn from trying something new. By pushing yourself into new scary situations you start building confidence that you can do anything that you feel uncomfortable with.
Have a Purpose
When you are in a tough situation it is easy to lose sight of why you are there in the first place. Whether you are starting a business or making a tough business decision, you need to have a purpose and use it to guide yourself. Athletes are willing to train many hours a day to improve themselves because they have a purpose to become the best athlete they can be, inspire a new generation of athletes, and push the sport even further.
Stay Disciplined
Motivation can come and go but discipline can create habits that help to achieve your ultimate goal. Whether it’s to get up in the morning to do a morning run or to spend 1-hour reading information in your field. Staying disciplined will make those days when you have no motivation easier.
Never Give Up
No matter who you are, everyday life will throw everything at you to try and stop you. It is not going to be easy, you will fail, stumble at some point in your life, and slap yourself in the face but you must never give up. Visualise your dreams and do not stop until you have achieved them. If you put your mind to it, anything is possible.
A quote I will always remember from Batman Begins which you can see in the video below:
“Why do we fall?
So We Can Learn to Pick Ourselves Up”