Mind & Mission are proud to be Scotland’s exclusive provider of Cognosis to the business community. We collect unique data to measure changes in mindset, based on an individual’s perception of their mental fitness.
One of the key elements of our mental fitness is our foundations. These are 12 aspects of wellbeing that we can strengthen, to positively contribute to our overall levels of happiness. When our foundations are rocked, we can easily (metaphorically) topple over.
The foundations are as follows:
Physical health
Poor health in general can be a contributory factor to a decline in mental health, which is why it belongs in the foundations. There’s also genuine suffering when long term sickness (such as long Covid) or perhaps an accident contributes to debilitation. When we look after our body through good nutrition, regular exercise and plenty sleep, we give ourselves the best chance of also contributing to improved mental health.
Communication and relationships
According to Maslow’s hierarchy, we crave social groups and relationships with others, it’s a fundamental human need. I’ve grouped these two together because one contributes to the other and vice versa. Working on our communication allows us to be genuine and honest with others and ourselves. We are then much more likely to be able to create and maintain healthy and positive relationships.
Resilience
Never more than right now do we need to be resilient. With Covid-19 still on our doorstep, being able to bounce back from adversity and manage difficultly has really risen to the top of the skills list. How we do that is different for everyone. We all respond to stress in different ways and at different times. Something that might bother us one day, may not the next. It is complex. Becoming self-aware and mindful of your response to stress is a key step in being resilient.
Personal impact
I found a definition I like which reads “Personal Impact is changing someone else’s view, stimulating them, challenging, inspiring or motivating them” (impactfactory.com). Not everyone wants to develop the type of personal impact that great leaders have, but we all need it, even for our day-to-day lives. By taking control of your mental acuity, you can be a better parent, for example.
Motivation
It’s the reason or reasons we do anything (or nothing). The influence, incentive or driving force behind all of our actions and behaviours. When we are motivated, we are much more likely to achieve our goals, and that’s the key aspect, having a goal. Without goals we have little drive. When we achieve a goal no matter how small, our body releases natural dopamine. If we don’t have a natural dopamine hit, we will instinctively crave it elsewhere and may adopt riskier behaviours (increasing alcohol intake for example). It’s important therefore to set ourselves personal or professional goals. They don’t need to be formal of course, it could be something as simple as, I will do my shopping early so it’s quieter and save myself time – for me!
Happiness
Why would happiness be on the list of foundations? Is it really a resource we draw on? Questionable, however, we overlook happiness on a daily basis, even although it is a measure we rate highly! We focus often on the bad, the difficult and the stressful but rarely do we focus on and ensure we remember the happiness in our lives. Starting and ending your day thinking about something happy can reframe your thinking and change your overall mindset. Try it and see what happens.
Work : Life
Very much on the agenda throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, working from home has taken on a completely new meaning and we don’t really know exactly what that meaning is yet. This is part of the foundations because work is such a significant part of our lives. Even if you are lucky enough not to work, it’s likely you’re impacted by someone who does. Being happy or at least satisfied with how you manage the physical and mental boundaries around work and personal life is critical to your overall wellbeing.
Sleep
Your physical and mental wellbeing can be completely altered by a lack of sleep. It’s no wonder therefore why sleep is a separate foundation all of its own. Generally, adults require between 7-9 hours per night which should be consistent and not sporadic (e.g., 5 one night and 10 the next). This is fact, it has been proven on so many scientific levels that we must have sleep in order to process, to heal and to protect our ability to function. Having “good” and regular sleep can help us to become more productive than we can imagine.
Confidence
Don’t confuse confidence with self-esteem. Confidence is about belief in your abilities, whereas self-esteem is about how you feel about yourself at your core. Highly confident people trust their strengths or weaknesses. Confident people can usually handle criticism because they have the self-awareness to manage expectations and goals.
Anxiety
Or to put it another way, fear. Some say we are born with only two fears, loud noises and falling. All other fears are learned. We learn our behaviours from our significant influencers, such as parents, care givers, family and friends. Anxiety can be general in nature or it can be specific (e.g., a phobia). For many, anxiety can be debilitating and therefore it must be included in the foundations. Accepting and managing our fears is a critical part of life.
Stress
Last but by no means least, stress. It can range from the positive stress that motivates and drives us, to chronic or traumatic such as PTSD. Understanding how we respond to and ultimately manage stress, is a key factor in our overall self-awareness and fundamental mental fitness and of course our resilience. It allows us to reframe our lives in a positive and self-affirming way, leading to improved overall mental and physical health.
By understanding our foundations, we can build on our perceived areas of strength, as well as being clear about where we are struggling the most.
The foundations of resourcefulness are a key part of Cognosis, which combines this with a view of your ability to manage thoughts and feelings and how you engage with your environment. All three make up the mental fitness quotient (MFQ), which can be tracked over time and against a benchmark.
Call us today to see how you can get your MFQ.
