The components of Mental Toughness

Personally, I work with the model associated with the work of Peter Clough, which incorporates many of the above elements into a 4C model; I’m more than willing to accept that there may be in reality more than 4C’s and even other letters — but the 4C model seems to work and I am a great believer in keeping things “short & simple”.

The 4 C’s are, Challenge, Commitment, Control and Confidence and each of the “C’s” is made up of two components

Control

Life control: I really believe I can do it

Emotional control: I can manage my emotions and the emotions of others

Commitment

Goal orientation: I promise to do it — I like working to goals

Achievment orientation: I’ll do what it takes to keep my promises and achieve my goals

Challenge

Risk Orientation: I will push myself — I am driven to succeed — I will take risks

Learning Orientation: even setbacks are opportunities for learning

Confidence

Interpersonal Confidence: I can influence others — I can stand my ground if needed

Confidence in Abilities: I believe I have the ability to do it — or can acquire the ability

The 4 C’s approach provides, at least for me, both a quantifiable description of mental toughness and clear areas to work on to become mentally tougher.

In my next post I will look at how Mental Toughness can be measured

If you have enjoyed reading this you may like to take a look at some other articles & posts that I have written here: www.boblarcher.com/category/mental-toughness/

Do not hesitate to contact me at boblarcher@boblarcher.com if you are interested in exploring Mental Toughness in more depth.