There’s one thing all top performers have in common – a strong mindset. Whether they are musicians, leaders, athletes or entrepreneurs, they all seem to have a combination of self-awareness, resiliency, and focus. A strong mindset enables you to stay focused on your goals instead of dwelling on negative thoughts. You’re able to understand that struggle and problems are no permanent and will not derail you from your path to success. A strong mindset helps keep you from making self-destructive decisions. Below are some tips on how to be strong minded.  

Nifty Tips for Becoming Strong Minded

1. Quiet Your Mind

You need to have an uncluttered mind. Let go of distractions and unnecessary worries to allow you to focus on what’s important. If you notice that your thoughts are scattered, take time out, take a deep breath to get your mind back to where it should be – your goals.

One of the best ways to control your mind is practicing meditation. You may find it difficult at first, but you’ll get much better at it once your mind gets used to the stillness. You only need to meditate for between 5 to 10 minutes per day.

If you lose focus and want to regain it immediately, try writing down the things that keep popping in your head. This will allow you to get these things out of your head and allow you to focus on what’s really important.

2. Discover What Makes You Happy

Ask yourself what you’ve felt the happiest and why. Doing this will allow you to identify the reasons why these experiences made you feel this way. You can then replicate the experiences more often. Ask those who are close to you what they think makes you happy and how they would describe you at your happiest. This is a great way to discover yourself and know how to control your feelings and emotions. This is how to be strong minded.

3. Set Aside Some Time to Think

Most successful people are usually busy, but this doesn’t mean they’re constantly rushing to do one thing or the other. They understand the importance of introspection and reflection. If you want to be strong minded, you have to take time out to examine your progress and give your mind the space it needs to identify new opportunities and conceive new ideas.

4. Establish What Motivates You

What drives you to achieve your goals? Take time to think about what makes you persevere through challenges and setbacks to achieve your goals. When you’re feeling down and can’t quite seem to concentrate due to difficulties ask yourself what you’d do in the absence of the challenge you’re facing. Your motivation is usually closely linked to your values. For example, if you have a family and believe they should have the best life has to offer, then you draw your motivation from them.

5. Set Long Term Goals

You must have a general idea of where you are headed in life. Having long term goals will enable you to stay strong minded when faced with obstacles and distractions. You should have a plan for the next 5 years of your life. Long term goals shouldn’t be concrete plans, rather a general overview of what you want to achieve by that time. Write down some of the things you’d want to accomplish and take the necessary steps to achieve them. These may include graduating college, learning to speak a new language or getting a job. Make friends with goal-oriented people and have mentors that help you along the way. This is how to be strong minded.

6. Set Short Term Goals

After you have established what your long-term goals are, you need to break them down into bite-sized tasks that will get you there. This makes it easier to keep track of your progress and helps you avoid feeling overwhelmed. For example, if you have set the goal of getting a job, you should break it down into writing a resume, getting additional education and getting an internship. Give each goal a reasonable timeframe.

7. Self-Examine

You need to keep yourself in check. Question your beliefs and examine the reasoning behind them. If you find that they’re based on misinformation or emotions, then do some research and re-evaluate the beliefs based on facts. Read widely and watch the news to stay up to date with what’s happening around the world.

Doing this will make you feel more confident about yourself and you’ll be able to hold conversations with people from all walks of life. Pick the people you associate with carefully. They should be able to challenge your ideas and thoughts. Make a habit of challenging any new information and weighing its merit. Don’t just accept everything dished out to you.  

8. Develop Good Habits

To increase your willpower, you need to develop positive habits that you practice every day. For example, you should always get up the first time your alarm goes off, always keep your house clean and exercise on a daily basis. If you have a habit of procrastinating on everything you do, then you need to put in the effort to break the habit. One way to break procrastination is having an accountability partner. You will be accountable to them for everything you set out to do.

9. Don’t Get Easily Influenced by Others

Want to learn how to be strong minded? How about you stop getting influenced by your friends and other people around you. If someone disagrees with you, you do not have to doubt yourself. Stand your ground if you truly believe in what you’re saying and do not feel the need to justify your opinions. Practice saying “no” more often.