How do I become mentally strong?
Last Updated: 22.06.2025 07:29
Cold showers suck. I’ve taken them (almost) everyday for nearly 6 years and they don’t suck any less today than they did when I started.
There’s nothing quite like intentionally subjecting yourself to frigid waters and saying “No” to the wonderful warmth of a hot shower when it’s only one twist of the handle away requires insane amounts of discipline and grit.
1. Cold Showers
And you’ll be amazed by the hidden strength your body has.
One rep, one set, and one step at a time.
strength isn’t rocket science.
Challenge yourself to do something seemingly impossible for a short amount of time and you will walk away with more mental toughness than you’ve ever had before.
Do 21 pushups instead of 20.
Seriously.
Not only will you be saving the environment and helping retrain your body to internally regulate your temperature, but you’ll become stronger by saying “no” to ease, and “yes” to adversity.
This exercise will teach you to keep going even when things are hard and, if applied regularly, will help you become mentally tougher than any other person you know.
3. Turn Off the AC
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It’s funny to me how often people ignore this principle in their lives.
strength over time.
Start now, start small, and work your way up.
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toughness, then add some temptation and make it harder to say “No”.
Whether it’s cigarettes, candy, pot, alcohol, or porn, pick a vice that you use everyday, and commit to giving it up for a short period of time.
Whether it’s total sobriety combined with waking up at 5 a.m., daily exercise, and no television for a week.Or simply one week of giving up your strongest addiction.
toughness by turning the AC off.
Start small in 10–15 minute increments and eventually, you’ll be waking up at 4:30 a.m. like a Navy SEAL.
toughness is to wake up earlier.
Is anyone else losing complete respect for the US at this point?
toughness is to meditate.
Start out small with only 10–30 seconds after your normal shower.
In the same way that you can’t go to the gym, deadlift 225 lbs. for 5 reps one week and then expect to lift 405 lbs. for 5 reps the next week, you can’t expect to just wake up one day and be as mentally strong
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But rather, turn off Netflix 15 minutes before you normally do, go to bed earlier, and then wake up earlier.
Increase the amount of time you spend in the cold by only 10–30 seconds a week and, after a few months, you’ll be able to take 10 minute cold showers with ease.
Do just ONE more rep when you don’t think you can.
The majority of recruits quit. Those who don’t leave the evolution knowing that they can do ANYTHING they set their minds to.
Our lives are way too easy.
Don’t give up quality sleep to do this.
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Do 11 pullups instead of 10.
Try pushing yourself to see how long you can go and, eventually, you’ll wonder why you used climate control in the first place (maybe not… But you’ll still be mentally tougher).
Put up with a cold winter afternoon with no heat.
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6. Wake Up Earlier (Without Sleeping Less)
strength?
as a Navy SEAL.
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It’s 7 days of almost no sleep, constant physical exercise, and psychological warfare.
If you want to get mentally tougher, start by meditating for only 3 minutes a day.
7. Go Through Hell Week
Can a relationship really last forever?
Then slowly work your way up until you can easily go 30–60 days without giving into the temptation.
Add 1–2 minutes each week and, overtime, not only will you be mentally tougher, but you’ll be more present, less stressed, and more productive in your everyday life.
And it’s exactly how it sounds.
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toughness.
Here are a few ideas to get you started .
Leave a bowl of candy on the table. Leave an open pack of cigarettes in your office. Go to an, *ahem* “gentlemanly” website and leave it open in a minimized browser.
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Another great way to boost your mental
Challenge yourself and you’ll be amazed by the results.
DON’T do this on the bench press or squat rack if you don’t have a spotter (there’s nothing mentally tough about breaking your back or killing yourself ok?)
Mental
I’m just better at handling the suck.
Start with only 12–24 hours.
Try it… You’ll see.
If you try to do too much too soon, you will burn out and quit EVERY single time.
In the Navy SEAL training program, there’s an event known as hell week.
Start this off by doing it for one day.
Plain and simple.
While I don’t recommend giving up sleep for a week and doing thousands of pushups (unless you have a thing for broken bones and screwed up joints), I challenge you to create your own Hell Week.
Within a few months, you’ll be astounded by your levels of mental
But anytime you’re doing an exercise where you can safely push yourself, go for just ONE more rep than you’re comfortable doing.
Sit in the car on a hot day without cranking up the AC.
The same way you get physically stronger…
Have a short event where you complete a certain set of mentally challenging activities every day.
If you are seriously wanting to give up a vice (like smoking or drinking), you’ll want to throw away anything that reminds you of it.
Before We Begin: The Principle of Progressive Overload
One of the HARDEST thing you can do to build your mental
But if you’re doing this SOLELY to test your mental
It’s simply learning to be comfortable doing things you don’t want to do.
I’d challenge you to stretch your mental
So apply these strategies slowly. Take small steps and challenge yourself to get 1% tougher every day. After a year has gone by, you’ll be 365% tougher than you were the previous year.
4. Meditate
So how do you cultivate mental
It just won’t happen. You have to work up to it and slowly build your mental
When we get hot, we touch a button and voila! The room cools down to a chilly 68 degrees.
5. Give Up a Vice
strength.
Cold showers are bar none one of the FASTEST ways to build mental
It’s funny…
Anytime you’re training in the gym, challenge yourself, once per workout, to do just “One more rep”.
Sitting down for 5–30 minutes and doing NOTHING is way harder than it sounds.
2. One More Rep