Understanding the foundations of Mental Toughness – Commitment

Understanding the foundations of Mental Toughness – Commitment

As I wrote in a previous article (www.boblarcher.com/mental-toughness/mental-toughness-the-end-of-an-era/), Mental Toughness is made up from four components, or pillars – Confidence, Challenge, Commitment and Control.

Each of these pillars is built on two foundations and it is the foundations that affect how you do at work, your relationships, how you handle setbacks, even how you reach your goals.

In this article I will focus on the Commitment pillar.

Commitment is built on the foundations of Goal Orientation and Achievement Orientation.

Goal orientation is about setting clear goals, goals that give you a sense of direction as to where you want to go, it’s not just like, I want to be successful, it’s more concrete, more specific.

Those with low Goal Orientation tend to be intimidated by goals and targets and try to avoid them. They focus on what comes along often attack intangibles and feel dispersed getting lost in trivia that is neither important nor urgent.

Those with high Goal Orientation tend to enjoy setting goals and objectives, in particular objectives that stretch them. They define “specifically” what is to be achieved and plan activities with daily “to do lists” of essential things to do; they focus on “micro” deliverables that will contribute to their priorities.

Setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and trackable objectives is on the starting point of the commitment pillar, the determination to succeed pillar, Achievement Orientation, is about actually getting things done. Putting in the work, day after day.

Even when it’s not fun, showing up even when you don’t feel like it. The ability to persevere is a big part of Achievement Orientation, unlike the search for instant gratification that seems to be everywhere today.

Those with low Achievement Orientation tend to allow themselves to be distracted and find reasons to miss the target, they give up easily when they encounter difficulties seeing obstacles as problems. They are often poor at managing their time, tackling non-essential activities rather than concentrating on what will move things forward.

Those with high Achievement Orientation tend to see effort as a path to success and persist for long periods even in the face of setbacks seeing obstacles as opportunities. They prioritise their activities concentrating their effort and energy on things that matter.

Again, it is the contribution of both foundations to the commitment pillar.

Those low in both Goal Orientation and Achievement Orientation don’t really set objectives for themselves and are not motivated to make an effort when they have to do something.

Those low in Goal Orientation and high Achievement Orientation set few objectives but get satisfaction from doing a good job.

Those high in Goal Orientation and low in Achievement Orientation enjoy setting objectives and planning what will happen but often give up easily when trying to achieve them.

Those high in both Goal Orientation and Achievement Orientation Not only do set (often ambitious) objectives but maintain focus and determination in achieving them.

So, the commitment pillar is all about setting clear objectives and maintaining focus to achieve them.

If you are curious to know more about Mental Toughness you can take a look at more articles here www.boblarcher.com/category/mental-toughness/.

And, if you would like to measure and start developing your mental toughness, do not hesitate to contact me at boblarcher@boblarcher.com