What is mental toughness, and how does it relate to motivation?

"Mental toughness is not letting anyone break you." – Jimi Mitchell, Football1

It is something that athletes, coaches and commentators seem to recognise, but something that is harder to pin down.

"Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind-you could call it character in action." - Vince Lombardi

Jones et al (2002) attempt a definition of mental toughness, that centres around being, determined resilient, staying in control and remaining focused in the face of pressure. They also listed some characteristics of mentally tough elite athletes, namely:

Self-belief, Motivation, Focus and Composure, or ability to handle pressure.

One of the reasons that mental toughness can be hard to pin down is that is contextual – it can be used to describe someone running an ultra marathon, a golfer on the final round of a major championships, a team that finds an extra level of performance in a “must win” game..

“Mental toughness is doing whatever is necessary to get the job done including handling the demands of a tough workout, withstanding pain, or touching an opponent out at the end of a race.” -
Jennifer Eberst, Women’s Swimming& Diving1

One thing that the mental toughness literature seems to ignore is that some athletes not only cope with the pressure of competition, with the pain of training, but thrive on it. In other words, they enjoy it. This isn’t just about being resilient, about managing something unpleasant, but actually gaining pleasure from tough situations.

How can we understand this better?

Well, Reversal Theory (Apter) provides a structure for understanding human experience that is based on 8 motivational states, organised into 4 oppositional pairs. There are two important, related concepts;

Motivational Richness: The more of all of the motivational states that you experience, the more satisfied or happy you will tend to be

Motivational Versatility: The ability to change motivational states to match the demands of the situation is the key to being more effective

Indeed, a therapeutic method based on Reversal Theory called the “8 Rooms” technique, that by imagining, drawing, or describing eight different rooms, each associated with one of the motivational states, has been developed and used with mental health patients in France. Use of the 8 Rooms technique has led to reductions in anxiety and depression.

What does this mean for sport? Well, what I’m saying is that rather than just about coping, resilience and “toughness”, which is all about the ‘mastery’ motivational state, “mental toughness” might be about being able to access a wider range of motivations, to match the demands of the situation, for example:

In the…

…‘serious’ state, staying focused on the primary goal

… ‘playful’ state finding enjoyment in intense competition, and staying in the moment

… ‘conforming’ state staying within the rules of the game, accepting decisions

… ‘rebellious’ state able to adapt when things aren’t going to plan

… ‘mastery’ state, being determined, tough and competitive

… ‘sympathy’ state remaining aware of yours or team-mates emotional needs, taking care of your body

… ‘self oriented’ state, focusing in on your own performance

… ‘other oriented’ state, doing what’s right for the team

So the ultra-marathon runner might at one moment push hard through the pain (mastery), but at other times take inspiration from their family (other), and at others focus on meeting the expectations of sponsors (conforming) or just enjoy the “runners high” (playful). The golfer in the last round of a major might be concerned with staying in control (mastery), might go against conventional wisdom or the advice of their caddie in playing a hole (rebelliousness), or even take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the course (playful).

In the end, the person that can pull on the right motivational levers at the right time, and thrives under pressure or in adverse conditions, is labeled “mentally tough”, but perhaps the next time that happens you’ll wonder what’s really driving them.

References

1Yukelson, D. What is Mental Toughness and how to Develop It? http://www.mascsa.psu.edu/dave/Mental-Toughness.pdf

Jones, G., Hanton, S., & Connaughton, D. (2002). What is this thing called
mental toughness? An investigation of elite sport performers. Journal of
Applied Sport Psychology, 14, 205-218.

Do you want to improve your mental skills? Try Ken Ravizza's DVD "Mental Skills for Competitive Athletes" or Daniel Gould's DVD "Five Essential Mental Skills for Sport"