Jason Selk - Executive Toughness: The Mental-Training Program to Increase Your Leadership Performance

THE MENTAL-TRAINING PROGRAM TO INCREASE YOUR LEADERSHIP PERFORMANCE

DR. JASON SELK

Copyright 2012 by Jason Selk. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-178679-9
MHID: 0-07-178679-1

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This book is dedicated to my beautiful wife and best friend,
Mara, and to my three wonderful children, Jackson, Layla, and
Genevieve. All of you inspire me to reach for greatness.

Mental Toughness: Potentially the Difference Between Life and Death

What You Want and Who You Are

Determine Your Purpose and Priorities

Heat Up Your Performance

Accountability: Doing What Needs to Be Done

Goals That Really Work

Schedule It or Forget It

Learn to Look in the Mirror Every Day

Focus: Improving Execution and Consistency

Control Your Emotions, Control Your Performance

Always Say the Right Thing

100 Seconds a Day Keeps Failure Away

Optimism: Overcoming All Obstacles

The Ultimate Measure of Mental Toughness

Optimism Through Unremitting Action

The Minimum Requirements for Greatness

When it comes to mental toughness, I learned from the master. While attending college at UCLA, I played on three of Coach John Woodens national championship basketball teams. He taught us perspective. Perspective to understand that a persons worth isnt decided by wins and losses but rather the effort they put into their preparation. Coach made it clear that its a long journey, and out of adversity can come growth if you allow yourself to learn from it. Coach never talked about winning, but he knew more about it than anyone I have ever met. I only saw him lose a few times, but when it happened it was never the end of the world. A loss was an opportunity to get better and improve.

I wouldnt say that Coach Wooden talked about mental toughness as much as he embodied it for us as players. His most powerful teaching tool was that the expectations he set out for us were so clear they were divorced from outcome (which you didnt control) and all about the process (which you did). A lot of people break down and become overwhelmed by the potential for failure and they fall apart. Coachs whole philosophy was based around the idea that you dont control the outcome, but you do control your preparation, you do control execution, you do control teamwork, and you do control effort. He believed in trust the process; give me those things that I know you can give me and I will take whatever comes.

That perspective defines his mental toughness. He didnt have to talk about it because he believed it so deeply that he lived it and wholeheartedly role modeled it for us every single day.

Coach taught that mental toughness is the toughness that keeps your mind in control when your emotions are looking to take over. It is the toughness to focus on what you can controleffort and preparationrather than thinking about what you dont have control over: results. Its a different sort of pressure. When the pressure is all about winning and losing, you have no control. Once he gave you all the control it turned pressure into opportunity... and a sense that because of our preparation and teamwork... it was an opportunity we looked toward with optimism.

We have tendency these days to believe the consequences of not winning are more dire and catastrophic than they really are. Lets be honest, athletes and business-people today are more focused on outcome than ever before. The problem isnt that they have clear goals surrounding results; the problem lies in the fact that they are so focused on those results that there is less and less emphasis on the process of what it takes to achieve those results. Coach knew that focusing on the process gave him the utmost control over the results.

One of the most important lessons I have learned from Coach Wooden is to always finish. I knew deep in my core that if I could get to the finish line at UCLA, nothing, and I mean nothing, in my future would ever be able to get me to quit. Always finish is something I carry with me today; if I put my mind to something, I never stop short. I learned to never, ever give in, and I learned that every time you get to the end it makes it more likely that you will get to the end next time. Whether it is exercise, working through something difficult at work, or working through a personal issuealways finish.