Happy Friday Everyone!
Fortitude can be defined as courage in pain or adversity. To have fortitude means you have the mental and emotional strength to face difficulties. Sherrie Campbell, a psychologist, author, and speaker states: "When we develop the mental fortitude necessary to stay strong in the face of adversity, we abate the fears of being in it". She identifies 8 essentials for developing mental fortitude(which I paraphrased):
- Define your win - winning is about competing with the challenge at hand and coming out with the results we want.
- Create efficient procedures - we must try to hold our emotional reactions in check enough to utilize mental objectivity.
- Set priorities - identify critical stressors and attack them first. This prevents us from being our own roadblock.
- Self-evaluation - we reflect on our actions with honesty and integrity.
- Self-control - use mindfulness to harness the emotions that control how well we perform so we do not succumb to fear, anger, or frustration.
- Prepare for negotiations - be well prepared for and anticipate the answers to different scenarios that may play out.
- Mental training - perform some form of self-reflection. Journal writing is a great way to mentally train.
- Relentless optimism - success is not built upon negative thinking. We must replace our pessimistic thinking with hopeful thinking.
Mental fortitude can be seen throughout our district. It comes as no surprise that a similar word to replace fortitude is Bravery. Braves, Bravettes and Bravery. Is it a coincidence that we have fortitude? I think NOT! We are embracing and developing the fortitude within our identity.
Happy Friday!