Mind over muscle

The guide for building focus, resilience, and mental grit — on and off the field

- Raahil Dhruva

Mental toughness is the invisible sauce that separates out good performance levels to that of elite performance for any athlete on the field, or any individual off it. Just like pro athletes who are becoming more aware of training their body as a muscle, it is important to train your mind as the muscle it is too. Building mental toughness and resilience takes quite a bit of discipline, self-reliance, and intrinsic motivation. True mental toughness is focusing on the process of your goal, being able to adapt under pressure, and having the right mental state to bounce back from setbacks no matter what obstacle comes your way.

Train under discomfort

The fire in which true mental toughness is developed is through discomfort training. Discomfort training teaches athletes how to sit with pain, doubt, and fatigue when their mind tells them everything to find an excuse to stop and quit. By learning to train through scheduled difficult training sessions, early mornings without excuses, and phases of delayed gratification, you teach yourself how to manage fear, cope with ambiguity, and commit to process, not results. Discomfort becomes part of the teacher's cycling process: it exposes limits, shapes strategy, and builds confidence that go beyond physical ability. The best competitors learn to accept suffering as part of preparation. On race day, they arrive calm, clear-minded, and resilient. Developing this mindset turns short-term discomfort into long-term performance and absolute self-belief, daily.

Develop a ritual