13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

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Brief Summary

13 Things Mentally Strong People Do by Amy Morin offers practical strategies for building mental resilience and emotional strength. The book outlines habits that mentally strong people cultivate, such as taking responsibility for their actions, embracing change, managing emotions, and setting healthy boundaries. It also discusses harmful behaviors to avoid, like dwelling on the past or resenting others' success, providing actionable insights for personal growth and overcoming challenges.

About the Author

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist, mental strength coach, and internationally acclaimed author known for her expertise in building mental toughness. Her book 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do became a bestseller and has been translated into more than 40 languages. The book originated from a viral article she wrote in 2013, which gained widespread attention and resonated with millions.

In her writing and speaking engagements, Morin emphasizes actionable strategies to develop resilience, emotional intelligence, and mental discipline. She combines insights from psychology with her personal experiences of overcoming loss, making her work relatable and impactful.

Morin is also a TEDx speaker, with her talk The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong accumulating millions of views. Beyond her books, she frequently contributes to publications such as Forbes and hosts the Mentally Strong People Podcast. Her work extends to corporate training and workshops, where she teaches leaders and teams how to cultivate mental strength for success in challenging environments.

Topics

Self Development Psychology

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do Book Summary Preview

Happiness and success are things we are all striving for. And in order to achieve these goals in our lives, it is important to live life to its fullest.

In order to make this happen, it is important to be mentally strong. However, being mentally strong is not an innate gift, and instead it is something that people can train themselves for.

With 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, Amy Morin reveals tips, tricks, and solutions for how one can gain the mental strength needed to control your emotions, think rationally, and generally handle situations that are typically stressful.

And while it is important to note that mental strength can help improve one’s overall mental health, these two things do not go hand-in-hand. Rather, you can be mentally strong and have a mental health issue. But with mental strength, you can handle your symptoms with a realistic outlook on life and improvement on one’s attitude toward your mental health.

Where to begin improving mental strength.

The key to improving one’s mental strength is identifying the different behaviors and thoughts associated with what is holding you back. There are 13 traits that Morin points to as being maladaptive behaviors.

The 13 traits to be mindful of are: feeling self-pity, allowing others to influence your actions and thoughts, refusing to change, constantly living in the past, being a people pleaser, always wanting to be in control, wanting to be recognized immediately for your actions, having an expectation of success immediately, feeling envy over other people’s successes, making the same mistakes over and over again, giving up quickly, avoiding your own company, and not taking enough “mitigated” risks.

All of these traits are considered to be those that someone with a weaker mental strength would engage in. Instead, to be someone with real mental strength, it is important to avoid these traits and focus on positivity and working to overcome the challenges put in your path.

Self-pity should be replaced with gratitude to gain mental strength

Mentally strong people are people who do not indulge in self-pity when things don’t go their way. Instead, it is about being grateful for the opportunity to learn something new. It is about not feeling knocked down when things are not going your way.

Never see an obstacle in front of you, but rather look at whatever is in front of you as a new opportunity. Think of the challenges you face as a gift to be thankful for, rather than something that is there to stop you.

By being more grateful, you will not only improve your mental strength, but also your physical health and wellness. In fact, a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology has indicated that people who choose to be grateful for things are more likely to deal with less aches and pains, while even having an improved immune system.

Gratitude might seem like something to brush off, but it is clearly very important, particularly when looking at one’s mental strength.