Mental Fitness Mondays: Making Mentally Fit Decisions
What should I do?!
In today’s Mental Fitness Monday, I want to talk about decision-making - and how you can use our Mental Fitness model to make better choices.
A decision is where you have choice. That’s why I encourage people to check in with their mental fitness whenever they’re making one.
Some decisions are big and long-term (like where to live), others are small and short-term (like what snack to grab). But every decision has an impact - and better-quality, more mentally fit decisions lead to better outcomes.
Even something as simple as choosing a more nourishing snack can affect your mental fitness… and by extension, how you show up for others.
A healthier you is often a happier you.
The Four Mental Fitness Muscles
At Real Clear, we focus on four core areas of mental fitness:
- Self Care
- Self Organisation
- Self Development
- People Skills
Keeping these four muscles active and in balance is key to a healthy, happy, meaningful life.
So how do you use them to make better decisions?
There’s a quick way - and a more in-depth way.
The One-Minute Mental Fitness Check-In
This is your go-to tool for everyday decisions.
Let’s say you’ve been invited to a social event and you're unsure whether to say yes or no.
Set a timer for one minute, and ask:
- How might saying yes to this boost my Self Care?
- How might it undermine my Self Care?
Then do the same with the other three muscles:
- What impact would saying yes have on my Self Organisation?
- Would it support or stretch my Self Development?
- How might it nourish (or challenge) my People Skills?
Try it before reading on.
Just one minute of reflection gives you a clearer picture of whether saying yes is a good move for your overall mental fitness - or whether it might tip you off balance.
And from there? Ideally, if it feels positive overall, you say yes. If not, you give yourself permission to say no.
Of course, life’s more complex than that. Sometimes we choose to go out of balance for a bigger purpose - to support someone, or push ourselves. The key is simply giving yourself that moment to check in.
But What If I’m Not Great at This?
If you’re someone who already uses this kind of reflection, brilliant - you’re probably flexing some strong mental fitness muscles already.
But not everyone does.
Some people say yes too often - to keep the peace, avoid conflict, or out of fear of judgement.
Others say no too often - because it feels safer, or they’re predicting things will go badly.
I know I don’t always make great decisions. But giving myself a “mentally fit moment” helps me course correct.
For Bigger Decisions…
The one-minute method is great for everyday choices. For more complex decisions, we offer a tool that helps you dig into the supporting muscles within each of the Four Core muscles.
It’s too much to go into here, but if you’d like a copy of our Mental Fitness Decision-Making Tool, drop me a line at lisa@realclear.co.uk
Coaching Reflection
- When have you made a decision that wasn’t the most mentally fit one you could have made?
- What were the consequences?
- What would you do differently next time?
