People exercise for all sorts of reasons. Some want to lose weight; others want to improve their health and well-being. Some are in training for an event or challenge and for others, there are social rewards like running with their child in a park run or hiking with friends (my personal go to).
Physical activity strengthens muscles and bones, keeps the heart and the cardiovascular system healthy and reduces the risk of serious illness. Exercise comes naturally for some, but for many others it takes self-discipline and commitment.
In the same way that exercise increases physical performance, so a healthy and productive mindset can be developed through a psychological exercise programme that can help you achieve your optimum performance state.
Many top performers in sport, the performing arts and business consider a mental workout as important as a physical one.
That is why I have come up with the4ways model. It reflects two decades of experience in psychotherapy, performance psychology and executive coaching. We know that the mind and body are integrated and therefore, the same principles of fitness must apply to both.
Physical fitness prepares us to deal effectively with the physical challenges of life, but we also know that increased mental wellbeing is a by-product of physical fitness. However, the development of mental fitness tends to be neglected. A psychological fitness programme, therefore, will improve our ability to deal with mental and emotional challenges by increasing our ability to focus and concentrate, strengthen emotional resilience, and reduce the risk factors associated with stress, anxiety and burnout.
The key elements of physical health and well-being are strength, stamina, balance and flexibility. The4ways approach to mental fitness mirrors these elements, i.e., the development of mental strength, mental stamina and resilience, mental flexibility, and psychological balance.
Just as we develop strength in the body to enable us to carry weight, increased mental strength develops our ability to endure mental burdens. We develop stamina to enable the body to keep going for longer and more efficiently. We can develop the mind in a similar way. We need flexibility to be able to adapt and bend the body and so to we can develop the mind to flex, adapt and embrace change. The development of a balanced mind will enable you to engage with life in a more fulfilling and healthy way. Mental co-ordination helps the body and mind begin to work together.
I have been working in mental health, wellbeing, and the mental side of performance for over twenty years. In The4ways programmes and individual coaching sessions, I’ve distilled knowledge picked up from research, training, and thousands of hours of one-on-one psychologicalwork into what I think are some of the key principles on which mental performance and mental fitness are based. You will have access to the processes that elite performers use to prepare and maintain high levels of mental focus and you can utilise all this for your own benefit and success.
Anyone can benefit from the self-awareness and self-development that this input will provide because we all basically work in the same way. It doesn’t really matter if you are preparing for the Olympics or working on career development, the psychological processes, thoughts and feelings and the ‘derailers’ involved are similar. The courses and individual coaching are designed to take account of any subconscious blocks, develop the right thinking, and manage the emotions around any kind of performance, whatever the context.
Bringing elite mental training to everyone who wants it is the4ways mission.