Jun 26, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min · 12 segments
There are two big questions underpinning this episode... - Is mental strength innate or do you build it? - What's the distance between your true limits and the perceived limits posed by your mind?…
But one of the questions that comes up or the concepts I think that people think about as it relates to mental training- Is there's some people that would believe either implicitly or explicitly that mental training is something-- or mental strength, mental fortitude is something you have or you don't have.
It's a talent like aerobic capacity or VO2 max, where there's a scale and some people are born with more of it than others.
And, and so people, I think, make similar assumptions about themselves, about the mental side of the sport and their ability to withstand the pain and suffering that comes with the race when you're on the limits and on the edge.
Where do you fall in that discussion of how much of mental fortitude, mental strength is innate versus trained and built?
I kinda lean towards it's all built, and I wanna be open to the idea that some of it could be innate, but I would have to be taught that.
Because even if someone said no, I mean, sometimes I just meet athletes and they've got it, I'm like, "Well, yeah, but we'd have to go all the way back to the crib and how they were treated as a child before their own language and perspective could even form." So I see it all through the lens of nurture, and I read a book, um, that I would highly recommend to people who are interested in this subject, um, called Willpower by, um, Professor Baumeister.
And I learned-- What I took from that book was the inverse of the way you asked that question.
I almost assumed, like, it was a mark on me if I didn't have the mental fortitude, um, and that I always needed to try harder.
And I learned in that book, it, that you should essentially treat quote willpower or mental fortitude just like any other muscle in the body.
Like, he was explaining like, no, to all of you folks out there, which at that time I was in this bucket.
But at that time, I was just so curious how far I could take the whole idea of if I put my mind to it, I can.
Um, and so I had to learn, like, even judges will, um, make some of their sloppiest decisions, like, on a Thursday afternoon, or politicians get themselves in trouble on a Thursday or Friday evening.
Like, as a week goes on, stress loads throughout a day, and he was just explaining that it's a muscle and it fatigues, and that's where you mess up.
So I'm coming at it from the opposite angle, but it's still answering the question of, I absolutely believe it's a nurture, um, uh, component, and that it can be built.
And if you feel like, um, you have none of it and you just assume others do, you start with the locus of control the most-- I'm getting into application now, but let me pause there and, um-
I mean, I think where you're going with that, which is where I was gonna go next, is that regardless of how you think that question's answered, and there are probably even within science, there's probably people on slightly different parts of the spectrum, nature versus nurture on, on mental fortitude.
Regardless of where you are, from my perspective, you have to assume, because we know you can build it, that you can be as strong as you wanna be from a mental perspective.
But one of the questions that comes up or the concepts I think that people think about as it relates to mental training- Is there's some people that would believe either implicitly or explicitly that mental training is something-- or mental strength, mental fortitude is something you have or you don't have.
It's a talent like aerobic capacity or VO2 max, where there's a scale and some people are born with more of it than others.
And, and so people, I think, make similar assumptions about themselves, about the mental side of the sport and their ability to withstand the pain and suffering that comes with the race when you're on the limits and on the edge.
Where do you fall in that discussion of how much of mental fortitude, mental strength is innate versus trained and built?
I kinda lean towards it's all built, and I wanna be open to the idea that some of it could be innate, but I would have to be taught that.
Because even if someone said no, I mean, sometimes I just meet athletes and they've got it, I'm like, "Well, yeah, but we'd have to go all the way back to the crib and how they were treated as a child before their own language and perspective could even form." So I see it all through the lens of nurture, and I read a book, um, that I would highly recommend to people who are interested in this subject, um, called Willpower by, um, Professor Baumeister.
And I learned-- What I took from that book was the inverse of the way you asked that question.
I almost assumed, like, it was a mark on me if I didn't have the mental fortitude, um, and that I always needed to try harder.
And I learned in that book, it, that you should essentially treat quote willpower or mental fortitude just like any other muscle in the body.
Like, he was explaining like, no, to all of you folks out there, which at that time I was in this bucket.
But at that time, I was just so curious how far I could take the whole idea of if I put my mind to it, I can.
Um, and so I had to learn, like, even judges will, um, make some of their sloppiest decisions, like, on a Thursday afternoon, or politicians get themselves in trouble on a Thursday or Friday evening.
Like, as a week goes on, stress loads throughout a day, and he was just explaining that it's a muscle and it fatigues, and that's where you mess up.
So I'm coming at it from the opposite angle, but it's still answering the question of, I absolutely believe it's a nurture, um, uh, component, and that it can be built.
And if you feel like, um, you have none of it and you just assume others do, you start with the locus of control the most-- I'm getting into application now, but let me pause there and, um-
I mean, I think where you're going with that, which is where I was gonna go next, is that regardless of how you think that question's answered, and there are probably even within science, there's probably people on slightly different parts of the spectrum, nature versus nurture on, on mental fortitude.
Regardless of where you are, from my perspective, you have to assume, because we know you can build it, that you can be as strong as you wanna be from a mental perspective.
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3 of 6
Walking Five Miles Injured
Boston 2016 still haunts Chris's proud memory
Power Of Visualization
Visualization science meets Aaron Rodgers playoff magic
Willpower Is Built
James redefines willpower as a trainable muscle
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