The Power of Mental Fitness for Professional and Personal Success, with Maria Jeffers
Mental Fitness Coach Maria Jeffers recently delivered an inspiring Masterclass on The Power of Mental Fitness for Professional and Personal Success! With a background in organisational development and psychology, Maria brought her game-changing insights on harnessing mental fitness and building a positive mindset to navigate life’s challenges.
Drawing from neuroscience, positive psychology, CBT, and performance science, Maria showed us how to rewire our brains for greater resilience, fulfilment, and success.
Ready to dive into the top takeaways from the session? Let’s go!
Mental Fitness: A Ripple Effect Across Every Aspect of Life
Mental fitness is our capacity to respond to life’s challenges with a positive mindset instead of a negative one. Think of it like a workout for your mind—strengthening the core mental muscles you need to thrive personally and professionally.
When it comes to creating exceptional customer experiences, investing in yourself is the key. How you think, speak to yourself and handle challenges directly impacts how you show up for others. Improving your mental fitness will help you in three powerful ways:
Peak Performance—We often think we need to push ourselves to achieve success, but what if we could pull ourselves toward it instead? You can achieve more with less strain by tapping into a different part of your brain.
Peace of Mind & Wellness – Constant stress and worry can keep us in survival mode. But when you engage the wiser, calmer part of your brain, you shift from just coping to genuinely thriving.
Healthy Relationships—Whether in the office or at home, the quality of your interactions starts with how you speak to yourself. Thinking more positively about yourself naturally leads to more robust, more fulfilling connections with others.
Boosting your mental fitness isn’t just about self-improvement—it’s about creating a ripple effect that impacts every part of your life.
The Science Behind The Mental Fitness Model
The Mental Fitness Model, developed by lecturer and Positive Intelligence CEO Shahzad Shamain, compiles the latest research from:
Neuroscience is the study of the brain and nervous system. It helps us understand how our brain processes information, manages emotions and adapts to new challenges. It’s the foundation for understanding how mental fitness practices can reshape our brain’s wiring for enhanced well-being and performance.
Positive Psychology focuses on what makes life worth living and how to cultivate happiness, fulfilment, and resilience. It explores strengths, virtues, and factors contributing to a flourishing life, guiding us to develop a more positive mindset.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy that helps individuals change negative thought patterns and behaviours. It’s based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and actions are interconnected, and by altering negative thoughts, we can improve our emotional state and behaviour.
Performance Science examines how to optimise human performance, whether in sports, work, or other activities. It combines insights from psychology, physiology, and other disciplines to help individuals reach their peak performance and achieve their goals.
The Saboteur Interceptor: Identifying and Overcoming Inner Obstacles
Through factor analysis, which allows us to simplify a set of complex variables or items using statistical procedures, we have learnt that ten Saboteurs (self-sabotaging behaviours) formed during childhood that hinder our potential. These patterns can be categorised into a primary saboteur and nine additional accomplices. Understanding and addressing these patterns is crucial for enhancing personal and professional effectiveness.
Through factor analysis, which allows us to simplify a set of complex variables or items using statistical procedures, we have learnt that ten Saboteurs (self-sabotaging behaviours) formed during childhood that hinder our potential. These patterns can be categorised into a primary saboteur and nine additional accomplices.
Understanding and addressing these patterns is crucial for enhancing personal and professional effectiveness.
The Judge
This is the master saboteur, representing the internal critic that consistently undermines self-esteem. The Judge frequently causes individuals to ruminate on past mistakes, dwell on future anxieties, and judge themselves and others harshly. This internal dialogue may lead to feelings of inadequacy and persistent dissatisfaction.
Then, we have the 9 Accomplices:
The Controller: This saboteur tends to control situations and people excessively.
The Hyper-Achiever: Characterised by an insatiable drive for achievement and validation through success.
The Restless: Exhibits a constant desire for stimulation and difficulty remaining engaged in one task.
The Stickler: Associated with perfectionism, an excessive need for order, and adherence to rules.
The Pleaser: Demonstrates a propensity to prioritise others’ needs and approval over personal well-being.
The Hyper-Vigilant: Involves persistent worry and heightened alertness to potential threats.
The Avoider: Characterised by a tendency to evade uncomfortable or challenging situations.
The Victim: Exhibits a sense of being consistently wronged by external circumstances.
The Hyper-Rational: Reflects an overemphasis on logical analysis, often leading to emotional detachment.
We will likely have two or three predominant saboteurs influencing our thought patterns. Identifying these specific saboteurs can provide valuable insights into recurring negative thought processes and emotional responses.
While initially developed as adaptive mechanisms in childhood, these saboteurs can become counterproductive. Recognising and managing these patterns is essential for fostering a more constructive and balanced approach to personal and professional challenges.
Harnessing The Sage Response:
We have access to five powerful Sage responses that can transform our approach to challenges. These Sage powers represent our inner strengths and abilities that, when tapped into, can lead to more intentional thinking and behaviour.
Our Sage powers are positive emotions:
Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others builds stronger connections and allows one to respond to situations with compassion and understanding.
Curiosity: Embracing curiosity opens the door to exploration and learning. It encourages us to ask questions, seek new perspectives, and approach challenges with an open mind.
Creativity: Involves thinking outside the box and generating innovative solutions. It helps us navigate obstacles with originality and find new ways to overcome difficulties.
Passion: Drives us to pursue what we love with energy and dedication, making our efforts more fulfilling and impactful.
Purpose: Gives meaning to our actions and decisions. It aligns our efforts with our core values and long-term aspirations, guiding us toward a more fulfilling life.
The Sage response operates through positive emotions, guiding us towards curiosity, empathy, and constructive actions. For example, if you make a mistake, your Sage will encourage you to speak kindly to yourself, just as you would to a close friend. Unlike the harsh self-criticism of a saboteur, the Sage promotes a nurturing internal dialogue and invites you to explore alternative solutions, fostering growth and learning from the experience.
This Sage mindset is crucial for achieving sustained success and happiness. Unlike the short-term success driven by saboteurs, which can often lead to burnout, the Sage approach supports long-term fulfilment. It encourages you to view setbacks as opportunities for learning and improvement rather than failures.
Embracing the Sage response offers a more balanced and sustainable path to success. You can cultivate a more positive, effective, and fulfilling approach to personal and professional endeavours by leveraging these inner superpowers.
Tapping into the Sage Brain: From Scattered Thinking to Purposeful Engagement
Our brain operates in two distinct regions, each with its unique strengths. The analytical left brain is the home of our saboteurs. While it is excellent for processing data, it can hinder our progress by overwhelming us with negative thoughts and scattered attention. In contrast, the Sage resides in the right brain, the hub of positive emotions, creativity, and clear-headed focus.
The Sage empowers us to experience peace and calm, see the bigger picture, and maintain a laser-like focus on the present moment. Rather than succumbing to the chaos of multitasking and survival mode—where we're juggling emails, customer requests, and many tasks—we can harness the Sage’s ability to concentrate intensely on one task at a time. Research shows that being fully present and engaged with one activity significantly enhances our effectiveness and performance.
When we operate from the Sage perspective, we cultivate a higher sense of well-being and create a positive, energetic environment that resonates with others. This focused presence improves our effectiveness and enriches our interactions with others, whether in professional settings or personal relationships. Customers and colleagues will sense the positive energy we project when prioritising our mental fitness and staying grounded in the moment.
Tapping into the Sage mindset helps us achieve peak performance and greater satisfaction. We can enhance our well-being and generate more successful outcomes by shifting our attention from scattered multitasking to purposeful engagement.
The Role of Negative Emotions
Many successful individuals are driven by their inner critics and saboteurs. While these forces can indeed push us to achieve, they often come at a significant cost to our overall well-being.
Negative emotions can serve as useful alerts—similar to how pain signals us to remove our hands from a hot stove. In the short term, they can indicate that something requires our attention. However, the key is how we manage these emotions. We should turn to our Sage response instead of letting them dominate our mindset.
Building mental fitness involves recognising that negative emotions are temporary signals that something needs addressing. This shift helps us move beyond immediate reactions and access deeper wisdom, promoting a healthier, more balanced approach to challenges.
The Self-Command Muscle: Training Your Brain for Positive Change
Building new, positive pathways in the brain is essential for shifting away from constant busyness and negative thoughts and accessing our Sage mindset.
The Self-Command Muscle is your brain's ability to regulate thoughts, emotions, and behaviours consciously. It's akin to a mental "control centre" that helps you override instinctive, reactionary responses—often driven by the saboteur—and choose more thoughtful, balanced actions that align with your goals and values.
Just as physical exercise strengthens your body, training your Self-Command Muscle involves mental exercises that build your capacity to focus, calm down, and engage the Sage perspective. This muscle enables you to manage stress, make clear decisions, and stay resilient in facing challenges.
PQ Reps
One effective way to enhance our self-command and cultivate mental fitness is through PQ reps, which function like a mental workout.
Here’s a simple exercise to get started:
Close Your Eyes and Breathe – Take a few deep breaths, allowing your thoughts to drift away as you focus on breathing. Inhale deeply, then exhale slowly, letting any distractions pass by.
Tune Into Ambient Sounds—Pay attention to the sounds around you. They might be the hum of traffic, a bird chirping, or even the ticking of a clock. Let these sounds anchor you to the present moment.
Focus on the Nearest Sound – Zero in on the closest sound you can hear, such as your breath or a distant noise. Keep your attention there, allowing other thoughts to fade.
Open Your Eyes – When you feel ready, gently open your eyes.
This practice helps quiet the inner saboteur and activates the Sage response, allowing you to view challenges as opportunities. By integrating these PQ reps into your daily routine, you strengthen your self-command muscle, making it easier to shift from negative emotions to a more balanced, positive outlook.
Shifting from Saboteur to Sage: The Power of Mental Fitness
You might wonder if it's genuinely possible to transition from a saboteur mindset to a Sage perspective, especially when facing tough challenges. The answer is a resounding yes! However, the speed and effectiveness of this shift depend on the strength of our mental muscles and how diligently we practise building them.
Our automatic thinking habits, often shaped by years of self-criticism and negativity, can be reprogrammed. Like plastic, the brain is adaptable and can be moulded to create new, positive pathways. Research shows that consistent practice replaces old, automatic patterns with new, constructive ways of thinking.
So, while shifting your mindset might seem daunting, the key is persistence. By dedicating just a small portion of your day to these mental exercises, you can build the resilience and mental strength needed to navigate challenges with a Sage perspective. Embrace the process and watch your mental fitness transform, allowing you to respond to life's hurdles with greater clarity, empathy, and creativity.
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