Bodybuilding (to me) is all in the mind, your motivation towards a goal is the first factor that can break you or make you along the way, too many people struggle with their own mental focus and are discouraged sometimes by the lack of knowledge or experience in the sport/diet, or by daily dilemmas we all face in life, shit some will even quit or barely put in any effort without gear which is once again a major discouragement factor for many, regardless, and all factors aside, I believe our bodies can be pushed mentally beyond points we would consider "our limit". Have you ever done a set where you are counting but in your mind you reach 10 or 15reps and the burn is their; that lactic acid is tearing you up from the inside and you come to a fork in the road; that overwhelming feeling that you should stop the set; be it you have reached your count in mind or the pain is too much, but then the other road in the fork, where you know you can still push at the cost of a greater burn but better results, well my friends to me this is what makes or breaks a true self warrior this is the discipline that defines a bodybuilder/athlete/power lifter/sports figure etc.
Many will go ahead and stop the set but the elite will push their bodies those extra reps, and it may burn like hell's oven but later in the game you will be grateful when you see the results of those painful efforts.

I live by the saying
"The pain you feel today shall be the strength you feel tomorrow"
I used to give in easily to muscle fatigue and burn, during my workouts my muscles owned my mind so to speak, due to my lack of knowledge, motivation and discipline; as soon as I felt the burn I would give into my mind, I’d think, "this burns too much I need a break" as soon as that phrase entered my thoughts the connecting chemical synapses between mind and muscle would lay waste to the effort and put my muscles at halt giving up, as I have become more disciplined, knowledgeable and self-motivated I have learned to ignore my mind and sharpen my synapse connections, I will listen to music while doing exaggeratedly long reps and keep my mind crystal clear I won’t focus on the burn nor will I think instead I will count reps and visualize the number in my mind without letting thoughts intrude (this can be quite difficult and took me some time to master), but it gave me the ability to not only complete the set but also give me the assurance to say "that wasn’t so bad this can be my standard" allowing myself to push beyond the thresh-hold of what I once thought was my draw line. Coinciding with this, I don’t make any facial expressions when the burn is intense; I feel this is the mind manifesting pain as an exaggeration
and in turn I have felt much more control over my breathing which is very necessary for any athlete and my overall my ability to resist pain has increased double and it has paid off, I have increased 10lbs of muscle in 3 weeks’ time and I don’t plan to stop there.

Keep yourself headstrong and stubborn its war with the weights.
Share your experiences or techniques on how you combat your mental discouragements when it gets intense, I’m eager to hear what others have to say (: