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

In this concluding chapter, Morin emphasizes that developing mental strength is an ongoing process requiring consistent effort and self-coaching rather than a one-time achievement. The author presents mental strength as analogous to physical fitness—without regular maintenance, one’s mental muscles will atrophy.

Morin outlines a systematic approach to maintaining mental strength through three core practices: monitoring behavior, regulating emotions, and examining thoughts. Individuals must actively observe when their behaviors sabotage their progress, recognize counterproductive emotional patterns like self-pity or resentment, and evaluate whether their thoughts are realistic or distorted. This cognitive-behavioral framework aligns with evidence-based therapeutic approaches that emphasize the interconnection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors—a perspective that has dominated mental-health treatment since the 1960s.

The author acknowledges that building mental strength cannot occur in isolation, advocating for supportive relationships and professional help when needed. This recognition of social support as essential to personal development represents a more nuanced view than earlier self-help literature that often emphasized pure self-reliance. Morin suggests that mentally strong individuals should serve as role models rather than trying to force others to change, reflecting a mature understanding of how behavioral change actually occurs through influence rather than coercion.

The chapter concludes with the story of Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian Olympic sailor who sacrificed his medal chances to rescue drowning competitors during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.