What You Can Learn From This Female Rally Champion

Mental toughness is a polarising term: people either love it or they hate it.

The technical definition of mental toughness is ‘the personality trait that determines in some part, how you respond mentally to stress, pressure, and change irrespective of the circumstances.’

But it’s not what everyone thinks when they hear ‘mental toughness’.

And I get it. Out of context, mental toughness can sound like an unfortunate cocktail of biceps, balls, and bullheadedness.

I recently had the privilege of speaking to the incomparable Penny Mallory on The Mental Fitness Podcast. Penny harnessed her own mental toughness to become a record-breaking rally car driver, author, TV presenter, and international motivational speaker on the subject.

Who better to explore common misconceptions around mental toughness with?

Is mental toughness reserved for confident, outgoing types?

Plenty of people find the concept off-putting, reductive or not reflective of their experience; that was certainly the case for a recent client of mine.

What I loved about the conversation with Penny was how much honesty, self-awareness and vulnerability she brought to our discussion. It…