12 Ways to Develop Mental Toughness and Focus in the Workplace

Achieving success takes more than a great idea and hard work. It takes perseverance and the ability to make it through setbacks along the way. Olympians know a thing or two about that—it would be hard to find a single success story in the Olympics that didn’t include a few failures on the journey to compete. From injuries to important matches lost, lack of support, and more, athletes have to make it through a lot to eventually attain their biggest goals! The same qualities that help athletes triumph over hard times are applicable in your day-to-day life and in the workplace. Mental toughness and focus on your end-goal are skills that can help anyone make it through the challenges they face on the road to success. And the good news is, these are skills you can learn!

What is mental toughness? 

Mental toughness means a dedication to persevere! It is staying focused on your goals and committed to doing whatever is needed to achieve them. Essentially, mental toughness is having the guts to get back in the ring, no matter how many times you’re knocked down. It’s commitment and consistency that allow you to push through obstacles and keep focus on your goals.

Studies have shown that mental strength is important for success. In fact, grit and perseverance are actually bigger predictors for success than intelligence or strength! In physical feats you may have heard that your mind will always give out before your body—mental toughness is the ability to power through and achieve everything you’re truly capable of!

 Why do mental toughness and focus benefit employees in the workplace?

Mentally tough athletes are the ones who show up to every workout, condition themselves for success through hard work, and push through exhaustion at the end of a race for the sprint to the finish line! In the workplace, mental toughness can look like leaders who don’t allow short-term goals or negative feedback to deter them from the company’s greater vision. It could look like the employee who consistently delivers high-quality work, not just when they’re feeling motivated. They don’t shrink away from responsibility, but they also do what’s necessary to keep themselves happy and healthy along the way.

How to develop mental toughness and focus in the workplace

 Developing mental strength takes practice, but it is a skill that you can work on! Try practicing the following steps to develop mental toughness:

Positive mindset = positive results

Believing that you’ll succeed is the first step towards success. Learning to keep that positivity even when you experience challenges is a true sign of mental strength. It can be hard to keep believing in yourself when you encounter negative people who don’t believe in you, or when you make a mistake. Don’t allow critics to affect your mindset. Stay positive and know that if you keep going, you’ll succeed eventually.

Be consistent

A huge part of mental toughness is the ability to consistently work towards success. Mentally strong people tend to be very consistent, sticking to their goals even when they feel a little less motivated, or after they have a disappointing result. Develop your own mental strength by consistently doing the work needed: attend every practice, put in the hours, do the research, and keep showing up!

Develop new habits

Forming new habits can help you work towards consistency and build your ability to push through trying times to success! A new habit typically takes 2 to 3 months to become automatic. In the workplace, habits that can help with mental toughness and focus include taking breaks, communicating with your coworkers, setting goals monthly (or even weekly and daily!), writing those goals down, and more! Think through what habits will support your success, then start incorporating them daily.

Don’t make excuses

Mentally tough people don’t make excuses, they forge ahead even when challenges arise. Now, that doesn’t discount that sometimes there are real struggles that can affect us. Life can be hard, and that certainly affects your focus! Take time to care for yourself, to solve issues that come up, and then instead of using problems as a reason to abandon your goals, recommit to them and keep heading in the direction of your dreams.

Focus on yourself

Judging your achievement against the success of others can be very discouraging. Focus on what you've achieved and what you're going to achieve. Be so laser focused on your own ambitions that you can’t be distracted by envy or jealousy over what someone else is doing.

Avoid all-or-nothing thinking

If you hold a perspective that only allows for black and white, all-or-nothing, success or failure, you’ll miss out on all the in-between! This type of thinking can be defeatist, because if you make one mistake you may feel like you might as well throw out the whole project. Instead, mentally tough people are able to see mistakes as learning opportunities.

Figure out what motivates you

What’s your motivation? Are you working towards a goal because it’s something you are passionate about, or are you just trying to impress your boss? Internal motivation is often a trait of mentally tough people. That’s because when we’re truly committed to our end-goal we’re more willing to put in the work to get there. It’s important to feel motivated in your workplace, so take some time to understand what makes you care about your work. It could be that you care about supporting your co-workers, that you want your product or service to be its best for your clients, or you could be motivated by learning new things. Knowing what motivates you helps tap into that passion to keep working hard towards your goals.

Don’t go it alone

Trying to succeed alone might seem like a sign of strength, but it won’t benefit you in the long run. Even Olympians in solo sports have teammates, coaches, and a whole support system backing them! Having the accountability of others can help you show up and work towards your goals consistently. In the context of your workplace, it can be helpful to bring in mentors to help you if you feel stuck. Coworkers are meant to be your teammates, and often can help you with skillsets you don’t have or can be there to cheer you on when you need a little support.

Work with your natural strengths

Know your strengths and your weaknesses—both are important! While you can improve at anything you put your time into, it’s also a good idea to focus on what you’re naturally great at. When you love what you’re doing and feel like you’re great at it, it’s often easier to get excited about the work you’re doing.

Build trust in yourself

Prove your abilities to yourself, over and over again by continuing to show up and do the work. This means if you say you’ll finish a project by the end of the week, you put in the time and accomplish your goal. Or if you say you’ll start a new habit, you commit to incorporating it into your schedule. The more you do what you promise yourself, the more you will build trust in your own mental strength.

Learn from your mistakes

Don’t allow setbacks to be the end of the road. Complications, struggles, and even failures are all part of the journey. Mitigate the damage as best you can, figure out how you can avoid those particular issues next time, learn whatever lessons you can, and then keep moving forward towards your goals! Let challenges be an opportunity for growth, rather than a reason to give up.

Have fun and enjoy the process!

Perseverance is easier to cultivate when you care about the work you’re doing. Put your time into projects that excite you, surround yourself with coworkers you care about, work for a company whose mission you believe in, or find some other way to get excited about the work you’re doing!