The battlefield of success takes place in the mind. You cannot manifest an outward reality that is inconsistent with your inner reality…or maybe, I should say, you can, but, it will come crashing down eventually. The dissonance between the two realities will cause an internal earthquake with maximum damage. 

Successful people are always mentally strong individuals. That’s not to say they don’t have challenges. Remember, I said the battlefield is in the mind. We all battle the negative, pessimistic, and fearful inner self that tries to sabotage our success. It’s not that successful people don’t have problems, they just don’t allow their problems to have them. 

The mentally stronger you are the greater your chances of success. And this is a universal reality that determines how successful you are in: your relationships, your job, your finances, your health, your fulfillment…basically everything! 

Here’s how to be mentally strong:

1) Be Optimistic

Negative people live unhealthy lives. Their relationships suffer, their work suffers, their productivity suffers, and their happiness suffers. We all know we shouldn’t be negative, but negativity is a sneaky thing. You won’t even realize you are being negative, because negativity disguises itself in realism. Instead of saying your negative, you’ll say you’re just being real. Don’t make agreements with negative thinking, it only destroys hope and success. Director and screenwriter, David Lynch said, “Negativity is the enemy of creativity.” I couldn’t agree more. Just remember any thought that focuses on the problem and not the opportunity is negative! 

Phillippians 4:8 (NIV)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

2) Be Slippery 

Your mind can either be sticky or slippery. Meaning things will either stick easily or slide off easily. The more slippery your mind is, the less of a chance unhealthy things have to stick. Mentally weak people have sticky thoughts. They allow hurtful words, unhealthy actions, and negative experiences to consume their mind, thus making no room for solutions and productivity. Mentally strong people have a slip n’ slide mind; they allow things to easily be forgiven and forgotten. The faster you can recover from “bad stuff” the greater your chances of success. Do what you can to not hold on to negative things in your life or they will consume you.

Job 17:9 (NLT)

The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger. 

3) Be Controlling

No, I don’t mean controlling others, but controlling yourself. Mentally strong people don’t allow their environment to dictate their wellbeing, they let their wellbeing dictate their environment. Mentally strong people don’t say things like, “I am just over this day and ready for it to end.” That statement is an example of someone who is allowing circumstances to control their wellbeing. I know we ALL have bad days, and that’s ok, but mental strength does what it has to in order to recover quickly. One of my favorite authors, James Allen said, “Man is made or unmade by himself. By the right choice he ascends. As a being of power, intelligence, and love, and the lord of his own thoughts, he holds the key to every situation.” You can’t control your circumstances, but you can always control your response to those circumstances, and mentally strong people strive for that.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.