I used to give up pretty easily and just move on with my life. After a while I realized how strong my willpower could be if I really wanted something. I guess we all know that feeling when you really want to achieve something in your personal life or you want to get a promotion or raise at work. In these times we are able to fight, give other things up and focus on our goal. For a long time my goal was to get a promotion and become a people manager. I worked really hard, spend hours thinking of what I needed to do to get there and I put a lot of pressure on myself.

It really took a lot of strengths to go through that period of my career because I was trying so hard. I was never sure if I was doing the right things and it started to stress me out. After a while I realized that I couldn't go on with that level of stress and the pressure I put on myself and took some time to think things through. It was that time when I also realized that my mentor once told me to focus on some key strategies to get where you want to be.

Sometimes life can move too fast or we start trying to hard and forget that there are things that can actually help us to focus on our goal.

In the end I got my promotion by using the following techniques that I want to share with you today:

1. It pays to be a winner

Studies reveal that we say 300 to 1,000 words to ourselves every minute. That’s an awful lot of thinking going on in our brain. The strongest minds swear on the strategy to always try to think positive. If you are already convinced that you are going to get something, you are half way there.

If there is something that keeps you from thinking positively, go outside for a moment and remember the good things that happened to you today or in this week. As human beings we are exceptional good in focusing on the bad things and we remember them more easily because our mind wants to make sure these things never happen again. It will take some time before you can confidently say that you are a positive thinker.

2. Use the 40% rule

Do you know the book of world records? There are people who have done over 4,000 push ups in 24 hours! That’s crazy, right? To keep going for so long does take a lot of willpower. A normal person who would try to achieve something like that would need to focus really hard and probably fail after just a couple of minutes. The reason for that is that our brain will tell us to give up. It will drive us crazy because it will send out signals to make sure every additional push up feels much harder.

The secret to achieving such an impossible thing is to remember:

When your mind is telling you you’re done, you’re really only 40% done

This statement can be applied to a lot of things. I usually get that feeling when I am doing an exercise class and your brain starts telling you that you’re exhausted and can’t go on. The moment you overcome that fear, you realize that there is much more power in you and you can go on.

It’s the same reason cyclists are able to compete for Olympia when they are cycling 30 km of hills and their body tells them after 15km that their legs are all jelly and they can’t go on. We often underestimate the power of our mental health. Everything in our life seems impossible, until it isn’t.

3. Setting daily goals

If you’re trying to achieve something really big then it is good to spilt your goal into smaller daily goals. It’s much easier to focus on something on a daily basis then to keep looking at the long term success. Set yourself 1 or 2 things that you want to accomplish on a daily basis and that will help you to get closer to what you want. A study from Harvard showed that people who have goals are ten times as successful as those without any goals. Writing down your goals also ensures that you are more successful.

You should also make sure that you celebrate small successes along the way. If you fail, you should simply start over with a new daily goal.

4. Join forces

To achieve something big you sometimes need to work together with somebody else. You can’t do it all alone. A lot of people think that successful people achieved their big successes all-alone. Great achievers usually work with others to help them get where they want.

Be strong enough and ask for help if you need it. It will get you much closer to your goal and will take away some of the fear that you have. It is totally fine to ask for help and accept it. To reach for big goals you shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to friends or family.

As somebody who has greatly benefited from mentorship, I can only recommend to build a good network around you. It is also very rewarding for mentors to help you achieve something. These relationships work really well because both sides gain experience and expertise.

5. Visualize your goal list

After writing down your goal list, you should start visualizing how you will get there. It is usually more effective to visualize the way that you need to take to get to your goal instead of visualizing the actual success. Through visualizing your journey you can improve your willpower and build up your self-confidence to make sure you stay strong.

What “secrets” are you using to stay mentally strong?