{"id":87128,"date":"2023-01-10T15:32:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-10T19:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=87128"},"modified":"2023-01-20T12:28:47","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T16:28:47","slug":"strengthen-your-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/strengthen-your-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Holiday: How to Strengthen Your Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What does it mean to have a strong mind? How do you cultivate mental strength<\/a>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A strong mind is a calm and clear mind. According to Ryan Holiday, the author of Stillness Is the Key<\/em>, the key to developing mental strength lies in cultivating wisdom and humble confidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, here are some tips on how to cultivate mental strength so you can be free from worries and immune to ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Strengthen Your Mind<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Ryan Holiday, cultivating wisdom and humble confidence can help strengthen your mind and keep it still. Wisdom and confidence go hand in hand, because as you become wise you grow more confident in a genuine way, rather than having insecurities manifested as egotism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although egotism may look like confidence from the outside, it’s really the opposite. Egotistical and insecure people have very unsettled minds<\/strong>. They\u2019re constantly consumed with their insecurities and perceived flaws and are driven by the need to disguise or compensate for them. These are mental weaknesses, where stillness requires mental strength, which gives you confidence. So, Holiday says it\u2019s essential to cultivate a humble kind of confidence through acquiring wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your Ego<\/a> Gets in Your Way<\/strong>

Holiday\u2019s 2016 book, Ego Is the Enemy<\/em><\/a>, addresses the distinction between egotism and humble confidence more deeply. He argues that ego drives people to focus too much on themselves, which hinders progress toward your life goals in a few ways:

– It shifts your focus from the tasks you need to achieve to your own self-image.

– You become so concerned with looking good to others that you fear taking risks because you don\u2019t want to be seen as a failure.

– You can be so self-centered and prideful that you can\u2019t take feedback or criticism that might help you.

– Your ego can blind you to your own faults, keeping yourself from improving in those areas.

One key to overcoming your ego<\/a> is to commit to being a lifelong learner<\/a>. Always humbly admit that you still have more to learn.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You Don\u2019t Know What You Don\u2019t Know<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Socrates questioned everything, because he recognized how much he didn\u2019t <\/em>know. Like Socrates, you must be open-minded and humble, and acknowledge your own ignorance, in order to acquire wisdom. Some of the recommendations Holiday gives for increasing your wisdom are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n