Those people who live purposefully and strive to become the best version of themselves daily typically have gritty characteristics such as perseverance, strength, resilience, and overall toughness. In our next installment of the Raising an Ace series, we wrap up all of those traits and discuss how we anticipate raising Ace to have high levels of mental toughness. Checkout the video:

• Toughness is Within (01:07 sec mark) – Defining Toughness (01:24) – Differentiating The Grinds (01:48) – Build Toughness Habits (02:18) – Prioritize Pride in The Overcoming (03:08) – Strong Grip to Values (03:50) – Confront Tough Things (04:40) – See Opportunity in Challenges (04:58) – Productivity Requires Toughness (05:50) – Toughness = Deep Thought (06:18) – Indefinite Persistence (06:38) – Defeat Soft Voices (07:16) – Pros/Cons of Laziness (08:03) – Destroy Victim Mentalities (08:45) – Unbreakable Drive Toward Goals (10:00) – Don’t be a Puppet! (10:42) – Boldly Be You (11:07) – Let out Emotions (11:42) – No Spoiling (12:28) – Make Toughness Your Greatest Skill (13:12) – Be like a Fist (13:38)

It sounds paradoxical a bit, but often the more one looks “tough”, the less they are actually tough. This is due to the fact that so many people have misconstrued views of what toughness is. In my mind, true toughness is always a positive thing. Always. So, when people do ill-advised or negative things that hinder them from achieving positive goals or break their grip to a core value they have, that portrayal cannot possibly be toughness. It’s often just foolish or “fake tough”. This is sometimes seen as unnecessary physical bravado like through fighting or being mean to people for no reason. And usually it stems from people being a puppet and letting people’s very unproductive perceptions control them. Also, a part of real toughness is being so unconcerned about your toughness being noticed that often it doesn’t even come to light. A practical example is in sports, where the toughest of the toughest players often play hurt and fans don’t even know. And as soon as a player gives into the temptation of telling the media, “Yeah I played hurt, and I showed toughness,” their toughness is reduced ever so slightly. True toughness is used to deflect adversity so much that the outside world doesn’t even know it’s there! True toughness is maintaining the core of WHO YOU ARE through everything that filters into your life, and that war bears no witnesses! True toughness doesn’t need applause. A tough person understands the only applause comes at the end of your days knowing you gave everything you had to chasing goals through every obstacle – seen and unseen – in your path. And when that applause comes, you’ve made it! 

Peace, Love, & Toughness!