Maybe not for the negative feedback of a boss, which turns out to be true and shows some learning potential. Maybe also not for the occasional miss of a train, where you might encounter a new friend.
But how about when a pandemic hit, when you get unemployed, when you get sick, when somebody dies?
Well, that’s a different ball game.
There is always the possibility to put your head into the sand, hibernate, freeze, give up,...
However there is also the possibility to act.
What you could, or better, should do from my point of view is taught very well by Shirzad Chamine 's concept of Positive Intelligence. It’s essence is the capacity to respond to life’s challenges with positive rather than negative mindset. In order to do so he encourages and guides to build-up three core mental muscles (everybody is going to the gym or yoga these days, so this should be easy😊). Shirzad is Stanford professor, best-selling author, entrepreneur and executive coach.
My personal story with “Mental Fitness” is the following.
2021 was a tough year for me: Corona hit, health issues in my family peaked and the consequence was the death of a loved one.
So the first half of 2021 was filled with emotions like fear, pain, worry, sadness, upset, rage, insecurity, senselessness, grief.
In June 2021 I got introduced to the concept of Positive Intelligence by the amazing coach and friend Rainer Höll.
So we started our journey in July and August. I underwent the standard six weeks coaching program with a group of four other coaches as accountability partners (credits and gratitude for the bond to Ranjit Bedi Peter Anagnostou Rainer Höll Dimos Kyritsis ).
My experiences and results after integrating Mental Fitness into my life where very convincing for me.
Clearer focus
I am now better able to separate the relevant topics from the loud and nasty voices and disturbances in my head.
Better resilience
I feel I have a pragmatic but profound tool available for stressful situations in private and business life.
Improved flow
I am able to approach my life/work-responsibilities in a calm and self-determined way.
Of course I am not always capable of reaching these results. Of course I am still struggling in a lot of situations. However as there is the “rear view mirror concept” in self-leadership: if I look into the rear view mirror, I can see that things are improving along a bumpy ride.
With this experience under my belt, I decided after the initial program to continue the program which gives me access to deeper knowledge, wisdom but also the App and tools to lead a course.
In order to try it out, adjust and maybe iterate within this concept, I have started last Friday my first “Mental Fitness” prototype with five participants. We will go through the six weeks program as a group using the core concept and the App developed by Shirzad Chamin.
There will be:
6 weekly video session on the core principles of Mental Fitness taught by Shirzad Chamine
15 min daily App guided coaching impulses & mindfulness practices
1 weekly group coaching session facilitated by me
What happens afterwards? Of course adjust, improve, iterate…And I will keep you posted.
If you are interested to get a first emotional impression of the concept, I highly recommend you to take the saboteur test: https://bit.ly/2YGrUtq
I am sure you will have a high resonance with the results.
For the coaches among you, I highly recommend you do the FREE six weeks program lead by Shirzad. Check out: https://bit.ly/3ksuDye
If you want to deep dive, check out the content on the website: https://bit.ly/3n4RFwH
For me as a coach, human being and life-long learner “Mental Fitness” is an essential cornerstone of Self-Leadership and I am happy that it showed up on my journey.
Self-Leadership is my journey now!
Photo credit: Metin Seyrek and BECC