13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success

"Kick bad mental habits and toughen yourself up."—Inc.

Master your mental strength—revolutionary new strategies that work for everyone from homemakers to soldiers and teachers to CEOs.

Everyone knows that regular exercise and weight training lead to physical strength. But how do we strengthen ourselves mentally for the truly tough times? And what should we do when we face these challenges? Or as psychotherapist Amy Morin asks, what should we avoid when we encounter adversity? Through her years counseling others and her own experiences navigating personal loss, Morin realized it is often the bad habits we cannot break that are holding us back from true success and happiness. Indulging in self-pity, agonizing over things beyond our control, obsessing over past events, resenting the achievements of others, or expecting immediate positive results holds us back. This list of things mentally strong people don't do resonated so much with readers that when it was picked up by Forbes.com it received ten million views.

Now, for the first time, Morin expands upon the thirteen things from her viral post and shares her tried-and-true practices to train your brain and increase mental strength. Morin writes with searing honesty, incorporating anecdotes from her work as a college psychology instructor and psychotherapist as well as personal stories about how she bolstered her own mental strength when tragedy threatened to consume her.

Increasing your mental strength can change your entire attitude and help you take back your power. It takes practice and hard work, but with Morin's specific tips, exercises, and troubleshooting advice, it is possible to not only fortify your mental muscle but also drastically improve the quality of your life.

This life-changing book reveals the 13 habits to avoid to build mental strength, giving you the tools you need to:

• Stop Wasting Time on Self-Pity: Learn why indulging in victimhood is the most destructive habit and how to trade it for authentic gratitude, even in the face of tragedy.
• Embrace Change, Don’t Fear It: Uncover the five stages of change and develop the confidence to step out of your comfort zone and welcome new challenges.
• Focus on What You Can Control: Acknowledge that you can’t control everything and everyone, and discover how to channel your energy toward the things that truly matter.
• Learn from Your Mistakes: Move past the shame of failure and learn to see every mistake not as a setback, but as an opportunity for personal growth.

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist, mental strength trainer and an international bestselling author. Her books in the 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do series have sold more than 1 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages. She's the award-winning host of the Mentally Stronger podcast and she gave one of the most popular TEDx talks of all time. The Guardian dubbed her the "self-help guru of the moment" and Forbes refers to her as "a thought leadership star. She lives on a sailboat in the Florida Keys. You can visit her online at amymorinlcsw.com.