Building Mental Toughness

Lewis Pugh, an environmentalist, swimmer, and motivational speaker, recently swam across an ice-cold lake on Mount Everest, the first person ever to do so. Afterwards, he gave a talk at TEDglobal about his experiences and the different challenges that he had to overcome in order to obtain such a difficult feat. He also talks about the environmental aspects of his accomplishment, but I'm less interested in those, and more interested in the mental toughness that it takes to accomplish a mission like this. It's amazing to me the things that people can accomplish when they truly devote all of their energy to a given task. For example, take the ultra-marathon runners in Born to Run. Or Jessica Watson, the 16-yr old Australian girl that sailed around the world. Or Jordan Romero, the 13 yr old Mount Everest climber. Or even the poor family in rural India that continue to survive on a day to day basis. And the list goes on and on.

But what if you don't have that mental toughness? Is it something that naturally comes to someone or is it something that you have to find, nourish, and develop? Although I'm sure there are some natural hereditary aspects, I think a lot of it comes through personal growth and development. It comes through consistent training and development of the mental aspect of any physical change, and this is something that can still be developed, even at a later stage in life.

What's the key to building mental toughness? There are tons of self-proclaimed mental toughness experts that might say this or that, but in my opinion, there are 2 key elements.

1) Small Wins. No one is going to run a marathon, climb mount everest, sail the ocean, or anything else, in a day. Small, consistent wins build mental confidence and ensure the ability to persist in a tough situation.

2) Small wins outside your comfort zone. In the beginning, baby steps are important. But take a baby step outside of your personal level of comfort, and succeed, and it will feel a world's different. Continue to grow and develop (small steps not giant leaps) and eventually you will be on an entire mental ability all together.

By focusing on these two elements, a person's mental toughness and their inner ability to persist, and even thrive, in tough situations will grow tenfold.

(An additional tip that I'm personally a fan of but that doesn't necessarily work for all people is to read stories about others. I love reading and hearing other people's stories about persistence, determination, and mental toughness. It makes me feel that if they can do it, then I can to.)

America's 5 step plan

Jeffrey Sachs, considered by many to be one of the top economists of our time, recently wrote a Financial Times editorial on what he believed to be the solution to America's current issues. He initiates his solutions by first criticizing American politicians (Democrats and Republics both) for having a very short-term vision for financial stability. He says that while Americans were exhausted from a decade of over spending on consumer items, the government promoted more spending (i.e. on cars and houses). Contrarily, the government needed to promote long-term, sustainable growth, as opposed to a quick, rapid turnaround. According to Sachs, by focusing on investments for the long-term, instead of a focus on short-term consumer buys, the US and the west will get back to a time of sustained development.

He continues on to lay out his 5 step plan as to how the US can get back to this focus of long-term, sustainable investments.

Step 1) This has been mentioned many times before, but a continued focus on investment in clean energy, and the upgrading of a new national power grid. Instead of using the cap and trade system (or emission trading) that has been talked about before, Sachs suggests to use guaranteed clean energy price subsidies that will be financed through rising carbon taxes.

Step 2) A 10-yr program of infrastructure redevelopment. Things such as new high-speed rail systems, new water and waste treatment facilities, and new highways should be the focus. This should be financed with a combination of contributions from the Federal government, local governments, and private institutions.

Step 3) Higher public spending for education. And not at the elementary level as others have mentioned, but rather at the secondary, vocation, and bachelor degree levels. This is to re-teach individuals that have been struck hard by unemployment, and to train and develop the younger generation for the future.

Step 4) Boost infrastructure exports to Africa and other developing countries. I'm not sure how significant of an impact this would make but Sachs believes that there are huge benefits to be had, such as increased exports, increased African development, and increased international goodwill and stability.

Step 5) A 5-yr plan to reduce the budget deficit to sustainable levels. He lists a couple ways to do this like cutting defense cuts by leaving Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as cutting back on weapons development. He also includes increasing taxes on Wall Street profits and bonuses, and high-end marginal tax rates, and potentially even adding a value added tax.

Although in theory this 5-step plan seems like an accurate way for America to get back on the growth plan, I don't think the implementation of this plan is realistic. Party politics plays too large of a role in the American economy, and with parties continually changing every 2 years, it's hard to come up with a 5 or 10 year plan to revitalize America. That being said, if the US doesn't get over party politics and look, together, towards the future, then it's only a matter of time until we'll all be looking back together saying "What if?" and more importantly, "What now?"

The LA Public Transport Dilemna

I recently read an article the other day about the Los Angeles public transportation system - it went something along the lines of, "Public transport in LA is horrible, and needs to be fixed". Yes, very informative indeed. I think at this point the citizens of LA have either decided that public transport needs to be fixed immediately or that public transport is unnecessary, and that driving cars is sufficient. But for one of the largest cities in the world, with one of the largest tourist revenues, to not have an adequate public transportation system is absolutely ludicrous. Bangkok, Jakarta, and Tokyo all have larger populations, just as large of a city, and are still able to implement at least a basic, rudimentary transit system. LA doesn't even have that. The worst part isn't even that LA doesn't have a transit system, but that the city doesn't even seem to be trying. There have been talks about developing a new metro system, but due to budget issues, those plans continue to be pushed further back and don't seem to be happening anytime soon. For one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, the lack of accessible public transportation is highly disappointing.

Ok, ok so LA has a bad public transit system, but it's never had a good transit system, so why get mad now? Well, I recently read a report about a new, green public transit concept in Beijing. A virtual double decker bus that will ride literally on top of the current freeway system. Huh? Yeah, I was confused too. Imagine a double decker train, with the entire first level hollowed out, so that previous traffic can still continue. They're calling it a "straddling bus".

To top all that, the entire bus (or train, or whatever you want to call it) will run on only electric and solar energy, will be able to hit speeds upwards of 60 km/hr, and will be able to carry approximately 1200 to 1400 passengers. And that's not even my favorite part. How long will the entire thing take to develop? 1 YEAR!! Los Angeles couldn't even produce a blueprint for a standard bus system in one corner of one part of town in one year, yet alone develop a brand-new, paradigm-shifting system such as the one that Beijing will shortly be implementing.

And after all that, people still wonder if the future is really in Asia or not...