Book Rounds: Mental Strength


Book Rounds, Mindset, Personal Growth / Wednesday, April 1st, 2020

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23215490-13-things-mentally-strong-people-don-t-do

Amy Morin

Who should read: All humans can benefit! Those in vet med need all the mental strength they could get! 

Favorite quote: “People pleasing is about controlling other people’s feelings.”  

This was a tough love kind of book. Mental strength is something I think we can all agree is a valuable thing, but why? What is mental strength? True to the book title, Ms. Morin tells us what it is not. Some of the bigger myths she dispels: Mental strength does not equal mental health. It is not another positive thinking strategy. It doesn’t require you to be entirely self-reliant. It does not involve ignoring your emotions. It isn’t about acting tough. It is something that can be developed and improved. Ms. Morin proposes that there are three factors that must be the focus of developing mental strength: Thoughts (replacing irrational thoughts with realistic thoughts), Behaviors (behaving positively regardless of circumstances), Emotions (mastering your emotions rather than allowing them to dictate your behavior).

She builds a case for working on mental strength by discussing the benefits, which include improved: resilience to stress (here’s looking at you veterinary staff member!), life satisfaction (looking at you harder), and performance (if the last two didn’t get you, how ‘bout this?!). Within the chapter of each trait that mental strong people don’t do, she provides some example behaviors to help determine if you are afflicted with this trait, and some helpful tips and strategies for managing this trait if you find yourself exhibiting it. 

The things NOT to do: 

1. Self Pity: Replace with: Gratitude

2. Give Away Their Power: Replace with: Self-empowerment

3. Avoid Change: Replace with: Planning to meet change with success

4. Focus On Things Beyond Their Control: Replace with: Focus on what you can control

5. People-Please Everyone: Replace with: Intentionally choosing who you wish to accommodate

6. Fear Calculated Risks: Replace with: Balancing emotion and logic to selectively choose calculated risks. 

7. Dwell In The Past: Replace with: Make peace and move beyond the past

8. Repeat Mistakes Multiple Times: Replace with: Intentionally study and learn from mistakes

9. Resent Other’s Success: Replace with: Cooperate rather than compete.

10. Give Up At First Failure: Replace with: View failure as part of the journey.

11. Fear Alone Time: Replace with: Embrace alone time

12. Feel They Are Owed By the World: Replace with: Practice humility

13. Expect Immediate Results: Replace with: Develop comfort with delayed gratification. (See also 6 and 10)


This was a very useful and actionable book, with many helpful strategies. My suggestion: Read the section that speaks the most to you, and take some time to percolate and implement the suggestions. You could easily be kept busy for the next year! 

3,780 Replies to “Book Rounds: Mental Strength”

  1. Does your website have a contact page? I’m having problems locating it but,
    I’d like to shoot you an e-mail. I’ve got some suggestions for your blog you might be interested
    in hearing. Either way, great blog and I look forward to seeing it grow over
    time.

  2. Does your site have a contact page? I’m having a tough time locating it but, I’d like
    to send you an e-mail. I’ve got some recommendations for your blog you might be interested
    in hearing. Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it improve over time.

  3. I am really loving the theme/design of your blog. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems?

    A number of my blog visitors have complained about my website not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox.
    Do you have any suggestions to help fix this problem?

  4. Howdy, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam responses?
    If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can advise?
    I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any assistance is very much appreciated.

  5. Good day! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d
    figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa?
    My website covers a lot of the same subjects as yours and I believe we could greatly benefit from each other.
    If you’re interested feel free to shoot me an email.
    I look forward to hearing from you! Terrific blog by the way!

  6. Hi, Neat post. There is a problem together with your site in web explorer, could check
    this? IE still is the marketplace leader and a
    huge portion of people will pass over your fantastic writing because
    of this problem.

  7. Excellent post. I used to be checking continuously this blog and I am impressed!
    Extremely helpful info specifically the final part 🙂 I take care of such information a lot.
    I used to be seeking this particular info for a very long time.

    Thanks and best of luck.

  8. Great blog! Do you have any suggestions for aspiring writers?
    I’m hoping to start my own site soon but I’m a little
    lost on everything. Would you advise starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m totally
    overwhelmed .. Any recommendations? Appreciate it!

  9. With havin so much content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My blog has a lot of unique content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization. Do you know any methods
    to help reduce content from being stolen? I’d really appreciate it.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.