Mental Toughness is made up from Confidence, Commitment, Challenge and Confidence; with each “C” being made up from two sub-dimensions
The best way to evaluate your level of Mental Toughness is to take one of the benchmark MTQ inventories, preferably the MTQ+ which provides both detailed feedback, and concrete development actions, for all of the eight sub-dimension of Mental Toughness
However, to get yourself started; you can “self-evaluate” your level of Mental Toughness by simply answering, honestly, to what degree the eight affirmations below describe you or not on the following scale:
0 to 2: doesn’t describe me at all
3 to 4: describes me slightly
5 to 6: somewhat describes me
7 to 8: this is really like me
9 to 10: this is exactly me
- I make conscious decisions about my life; I am guided by an internal compass and I feel that I am in control of what happens in my life
- Even when under considerable pressure I usually remain calm and am able control the impact of my emotions
- I regularly set goals & objectives with concrete measures as this helps me to describe what success looks like
- I am tenacious & determined and not easily distracted from tasks that I am involved, even when under pressure
- I enjoy being stretched and out of my comfort zone and I regularly take on difficult challenges
- I am a constant learner and am able to learn from both my successes and my failures
- I am self-assured and not dependent upon others for praise, my inner belief is enough
- I am confident in my abilities and I very rarely make mistakes when discussing my subject area
The eight questions correspond to the 8 sub-elements of the Mental Toughness 4C’s
Control: Life Control & Emotional Control
Commitment: Goal Orientation & Achievement Orientation
Challenge: Risk Orientation & Learning Orientation
Confidence: Inter-personal Confidence & Confidence in Abilities
You can even print off the image above and visualise your “scores”
Clearly, the questions above cannot replace the detailed analysis provided by inventories such as the MTQ Lite, the MTQ48 and, of course, the MTQ+; but they will get you off to a good start and maybe give you some ideas as to where you should concentrate your development efforts.
If you would like to go further in understanding Mental Toughness and how you can develop it, do not hesitate to contact me; I have been an MTQ accredited practitioner since 2008 and a Master Trainer since 2017
I help people to develop their interpersonal skills, usually within a leadership or teamwork context. If you are looking to develop your leadership, I might be able to help. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years; roughly four thousand days of seminars, workshops, conferences, coaching, offsites, webinars, etc. – put back-to-back that makes almost ten “full” years.