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”

  4. Yesterday, while I was at work, my cousin stole
    my apple ipad and tested to see if it can survive a 30 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My iPad
    is now broken and she has 83 views. I know this is completely
    off topic but I had to share it with someone!

  6. Hello there! This post couldn’t be written any better!
    Reading this post reminds me of my previous room
    mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this article to him.
    Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

  8. Greetings! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a
    quick shout out and say I really enjoy reading through your articles.
    Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same
    topics? Thank you so much!

  12. Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is an extremely well written article.
    I’ll make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more
    of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.

  14. What i don’t understood is in fact how you are not really much
    more smartly-liked than you may be right now. You
    are so intelligent. You understand therefore significantly in relation to this subject,
    produced me for my part believe it from so many varied angles.
    Its like men and women are not interested except it is one thing to accomplish with Girl gaga!
    Your personal stuffs great. At all times care for it up!

  19. I do not even understand how I ended up here, but I
    assumed this publish was once great. I don’t know who you’re however definitely you are going to a well-known blogger if you happen to are not already.

    Cheers!

Leave a Reply

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