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1 CONTENTS About the contributors xi Acknowledgements xv 01 Introduction 1 The 4 Cs model 2 Four fallacies about mental toughness 5 Defining and describing mental toughness 9 How and why we became engaged with mental toughness The importance of stress 12 Situational moderators of stress 13 An applied perspective on mental toughness, stress management and peak performance 16 The AQR stress model A brief history of mental toughness 22 Resilience and hardiness 22 What is mental toughness? 25 The beginnings of mental toughness research 26 The qualitative approach 28 The psychometric approach 30 Mental toughness in the 21st century 32 Our thoughts on the five questions Developing the model and the MTQ48 35 Preliminary field research 36 Development of the four-factor model 39 Post-development testing of the MTQ Mental toughness and the MTQ48 measure 46 The MTQ48 test platform 48 MTQ48 report types 50 The future and ongoing development 54

2 vi Contents 06 Control 56 Control defined and applied 60 Are high levels of control always a strength? 63 The psychological context of control 64 Emotional control Commitment 71 Commitment defined and applied 73 Are high levels of commitment always a strength? 73 The psychological context of commitment 76 Goal setting Challenge 81 Challenge defined and applied 83 Are high levels of challenge always a strength? 87 The psychological context of challenge Confidence 93 Confidence defined and applied 94 Are high levels of confidence always a strength? 98 The psychological context of confidence Mental toughness and its relationships with other important models mindset, positive psychology and emotional intelligence 107 Mindset 107 Learned optimism 108 Hierarchy of needs 109 Mental toughness, emotional intelligence and compassion 110 A summary: Decision making 115 Mental toughness and creativity 115 Mental toughness and risk 117 Thinking errors are the mentally tough less prone to error? 118 What of luck? 118

3 Contents vii 12 Mental toughness and fatigue the impact of mental toughness on the development of fatigue 122 What is fatigue and why is it important? 123 How does mental toughness impact on the development of fatigue? 127 How does fatigue affect people with different levels of mental toughness? 132 Understanding your own process of fatigue three recommendations for action Mental toughness and the world of work (1) stress, motivation, leadership, coaching and teamworking 137 Stress, motivation and aspiration 137 Leadership 139 Coaching 141 Group mental toughness organizational development applications 142 Mental toughness and teamworking 145 Organization development and culture 146 Teamworking behaviour and individual mental toughness 147 Summary Mental toughness and the world of work (2) assessment and development, and talent management 152 Recruitment and selection 152 Employee development and talent management Employability a key issue for the 21st-century employer and employee 158 Employability what is this concept? 158 Employability what does this mean and where does mental toughness play a part? 160 Employability factors what does a good attitude entail? 161 Self-employment, enterprise and entrepreneurship 165

4 viii Contents 16 Mental toughness and the world of education and the development of young people 168 Performance and attainment 169 Wellbeing 170 Attendance, behaviour and peer relationships 171 Retention 172 Transition 175 Employability 176 Aspirations 177 Social mobility and working with the disadvantaged 178 Bullying 179 Anti-social behaviour 180 Mental toughness and parenting 180 Leisure activities sport and outdoor activities 181 Primary education 181 Conclusion Mental toughness in sport 183 Mental toughness and sports psychology 183 Case studies 185 The practitioner s perspective 194 Conclusion Mental toughness and its link to the social and health sectors 198 Mental toughness and health 200 Mental health 204 Social responsibility and mental toughness 207 Occupational health 212 Summary Can mental toughness be developed? The practitioner s and psychologist s perspectives 215 Introduction 215 The psychologist s perspective 217 The practitioner s perspective 219 Developing mental toughness guiding principles 221

5 Contents ix 20 Using the mental toughness model and the MTQ48 in coaching and mentoring 228 How can a coach apply the mental toughness model in their work? 230 The GROW coaching model 231 Mental toughness and its application to coaches 241 Summary Positive thinking 244 Learning to think positively 246 Banishing negative thoughts 249 Reframing negatives into positives 253 Mindfulness Visualization 256 Visualizing success 257 The psychological context of confidence development 261 Positive psychology and mental toughness Anxiety control and relaxation a physiotherapist s perspective 265 Introduction 265 The Laura Mitchell relaxation method 266 Other relaxation techniques 275 The role of fitness 278 The role of diet 279 Biofeedback Attentional control 283 Understanding attentional control 283 Attentional control and mental toughness 284 Some simple tips, tools and techniques that work 290 Interruptions and distractions 293 Conclusions 293

6 x Contents 25 Goal setting 294 How goal setting works 294 Aspects of goal setting 295 A psychological perspective on goal setting Research using the MTQ Introduction 299 Mental toughness and coping 299 Mental toughness, emotional control/reactivity and emotional intelligence 300 Mental toughness and performance/levels of achievement 301 Mental toughness and psychological skills 303 Mental toughness and personality 304 Mental toughness and health 304 Mental toughness and education 305 Other studies using the MTQ48/MTQ Conclusion A summary and thoughts about what s next? 308 A global perspective 308 The psychological perspective where does mental toughness fit into the rest of the picture? 310 The practitioner s needs product development 311 References 313 Index 324