Mental Fitness: Train Your Mind Like You Do Your Body
What is Mental Fitness?
While the concept of Mental Fitness is not widely known, it does exist in clinical psychology. It is generally defined as “a state of well-being and having a positive sense of how we feel, think, and act.”
At Happiful, we go a bit further. We define Mental Fitness as:
Being confident and optimistic, having a positive self-identity, believing you can overcome challenges and achieve your goals, and living with positivity, happiness, and joy.
That’s the state we’re aiming for when we talk about training your mind like you do your body.
The Three Pillars of Mental Fitness
The Happiful system provides a structured program of daily practices designed to develop Mental Fitness. These practices line up with the same three pillars of nutrition, workouts, and recovery for the mind:
1. Nutrition: What You Feed Your Mind
Your thoughts are shaped by the inputs you allow in. Just like physical nutrition, some content energizes and nourishes you, while other content drains and weakens you. Here’s how to nourish your mind:
Read books that inspire or teach
Listen to positive, uplifting podcasts
Avoid (or limit) negative media and people
Practice gratitude
Review your past accomplishments
Everything that you allow into your mind is either fuel or junk food. Over time, these inputs completely shape your mind and how you view the world and yourself.
2. Workout: Training and Strengthening Your Mind
You grow physically stronger and healthier when you work out each day. Here’s the mental strength equivalent to daily workouts:
Visualize your goals as if they’re already achieved
Repeat Affirmations that build your confidence and self-image
Review your Hero Bars: your past accomplishments or times you overcame challenges
Gratitude Journal to notice and appreciate all the good things in your life
Review your Daily Wins to reinforce your progress towards your goals
Anticipate exciting upcoming events
Like lifting weights, it’s the daily reps that count. Small, consistent daily practices compound into mental strength.
3. Rest and Recovery: Recharging the Mind
Recovery periods are essential for both your body and your mind.
Meditation to quiet mental noise
Breathwork to restore balance and energy
Nightly digital disconnects to create calm
Sleep best practices that protect your rest
Benefits of Mental Fitness
When you train your mind with the same care as your body, the results ripple through every area of your life:
A more optimistic outlook
Increased confidence in yourself and your abilities
Greater motivation
Resilience when challenges come
Healthier, more positive relationships
Steady progress towards achieving your goals
Greater happiness and life satisfaction
Mental Fitness truly gives you the foundation to build your ideal life, while enjoying yourself along the way.
How I implement this into my daily life:
Mental Nutrition: Each day, I spend some time reading a positive, educational book. I listen to DarrenDaily each day, and when I listen to podcasts, they are always positive ones. I never go on social media, and never consume news (online, print, TV, or radio). My Ideal Day Checklist includes reading, and the ban on social media and news is simply part of my self-identity.
Mental Workout: I write in my Gratitude Journal each evening and review it each morning. I always start my day with an intentional smile. I have a series of Affirmations I speak aloud each morning (I also speak aloud my Values and my current year’s Goals each morning). I read over my Hero Bars and my 5-Year Vision each morning. And at the end of each workday, I celebrate my wins for the day. All of these are either built into the Happiful Planner or on my Ideal Day Checklist.
Mental Rest and Recovery: Each morning, I do a short meditation and go on an input-free walk. I do Wim Hof breathing most days, and always do some box breathing. I fully disconnect from technology before dinner each day, and I follow a pre-sleep routine with an early bedtime. All but the pre-sleep routine are on my Ideal Day Checklist.
These practices make me confident and optimistic, help me show up with high positive energy, and make my life more enjoyable while making progress towards my big goals.
Final Thoughts
If you follow these Mental Fitness practices, over time, you’ll notice the difference, and so will the people in your life. Decide that this is worth it. Today, pick out one of these beneficial daily practices and implement it. Each week, add another.
Over time, these habits will build your Mental Fitness and support you in designing and living your ideal life. As a Happiful member, for a limited time, you can take our Design Your Ideal Life course for free.
Note: This article is about building Mental Fitness, not diagnosing or treating mental illness. If you are experiencing symptoms of mental illness, please seek help from a qualified healthcare professional.
