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Top 11 Best Mental Toughness Books, According To Tough Guys

There are many different ways to be mentally tough.

So we’ve drawn on the widest variety of perspectives possible in choosing our favorite mental toughness books.

These tomes will help you prepare your mind effectively for your life goals. 

There’s no doubt that mental toughness is important if you want to succeed in life and developing your mental toughness is a science.

And there’s no doubt that somewhere in this list there’s the book that you’ve always been looking for. 

We wish you luck in your personal transformation!

Feature 1

The Resilience Factor: 7 Keys to Finding Your Inner Strength and Overcoming Life’s Hurdles by Karen Reivich and Andrew Shatte Ph.D.

Resilience is the form of mental toughness that lets you bounce back from life’s most difficult situations. 

Reivich and Shatte draw on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy techniques to provide a practical guide to becoming super-resilient. 

Feature 2

Micro-Resilience: Minor Shifts for Major Boosts in Focus, Drive, and Energy by Bonnie St. John and Allen P. Haines

It’s not just the big things that we need to recover from and St. John and Haines have focused on all the little bumps in life and how to make sure that they don’t slow you down.

We like the five point framework that it provides for use in all of your life. 


Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back by Andrew Zolli and Anne Marie Healey

Zolli and Healey take a very high-level view and they show that, with time, everything bounces back and that by changing your perspective on an event, you can quickly recover too. 

resilience

Say goodbye to adversity. 


Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life by Eric Greitens

Who better to teach resilience than a Navy SEAL who has also overcome PTSD and alcoholism? 

resilience hard-won wisdom

Eric Grieten shows us that you can overcome anything in the end and he provides a path to walk through your troubles and leave them behind. 


Navy SEAL Mental Toughness Book: A Guide to Developing An Unbeatable Mind (Special Operations Series) by Chris Lambertsen

Another Navy SEAL but with a different approach.

navy seal mental toughness

Lambertsen draws from SEAL training to provide a mental toughness that’s perfect to marry with a physical toughness. 

You’ll never let a goal intimidate you again. 


Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant

Sheryl Sandberg is a big name in the tech world but when she was working for both Google and Facebook her husband died out of the blue.

option b

The advice she got from Adam Grant enabled her and her children to go on. 

This is a unique perspective on mental toughness. 


Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

rising strong

Dr. Brown is one of the biggest names in overcoming adversity and there’s nothing that they don’t know about resilience. 


Mental Training for Peak Performance, Revised & Updated Edition by Steven Ungerleider and Nick Bollettieri

mental training for peak performance

This book draws on the science of sports psychology to give the reader brain exercises that help them become mental top performers. 


Discipline Equals Freedom (Field Manual) by Jocko Willink

Another Navy SEAL! 

discipline equals freedom

Willink shows you that hard times can always be survived, with discipline. 


Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

grit

Duckworth went to West Point to find out how cadets, teachers and more can use passion and perseverance to achieve any goal. 


Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level – Mark Divine

unbeatable mind

Unbeatable Mind is one of our favorites in the office and Mark Divine’s book is perfect for the person looking to unleash their own would-be warrior. 


Final Thoughts On Mental Toughness Books

We hope that you’ve found a book to inspire you in our top 12 mental toughness books and that you start working on this important discipline today.

Winners are mentally tough and often, they’re not even all that physically tough, they just have the right mindset.

If you’d like some other ideas for mental toughness books, we’d also recommend 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do and The Undefeated Mind, check them out. 

Stephen Oliver
Stephen Oliver
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