Why is ‘mental fitness’ important in the workplace and how can we support employees to be more ‘mentally fit’?
Date: 30th September 2024
We are all aware of the importance of exercise and ‘working out’ to maintain our physical fitness. There is a whole industry built around different types of classes, sports and fitness levels to help us gain muscle mass, reduce fat mass, increase stamina or cardiovascular fitness. But what about our mental fitness? Of course, we have teachers and classes which focus on meditation or other relaxation type activities, but other than this, very little is available to support us in mentally thriving and staying mentally fit.
Mental fitness then, is maintaining a state of overall well-being, a state of awareness around how we think, feel and behave. Yet, how many of us focus on this in our day-to-day lives? Especially when life is going ok or when we feel comfortable. Most of us have never been taught this incredibly useful information. Those that have, have often learnt from experience, through therapy or specific training around the brain and the mind-body connection. Yet, mental fitness is fundamental to our human experience. It can mean the difference between an okay life and a wonderful life, a life of existing or of reaching for the stars, of merely surviving or of thriving. When we are mentally fit, we are living intentionally and consciously. We are choosing how to be and how to respond, not just reacting to our environment or emotions as they come and go. Responding rather than reacting means we have a choice and with it, some semblance of control, of belief of control.
What do you mean by responding rather than reacting?
As we think our way through our days, our brains create neural pathways or ruts. The more we think a thought, the stronger the neural pathway becomes and eventually it becomes automatic, like reading or driving. Once we’ve learnt to read, we don’t need to think what’s that word, what does this sentence mean, we simply understand it. It becomes automatic. This is absolutely what needs to happen for tasks like reading or driving, or when we are following many of our usual routines like our commute to work etc. This becomes problematic when our automatic thinking takes us away from our greater goals in life or when our actions are being triggered by past situations or emotions. For example, at school you were told you wouldn’t amount to anything, you never got the best grades or won any trophies despite trying your best, so you developed a neural pathway that trying hard wasn’t noticed or recognised so why bother. At work, you do the minimum to get the job done, believing that working any harder is pointless as it won’t be noticed or recognised. This automatic pattern is due to that same neural pathway you developed as a child in response to that situation at school, but it’s time to catch it and let it go, so you can stop it dictating your future!
The key to building your mental fitness is to have an awareness of your language and thoughts and an understanding of how they impact your feelings, behaviours and actions. We also need the mental strength to identify different options so that we can choose a new action and develop a new neural pathway. This is why it’s so important to focus on our mental fitness every day, especially when life is ok! If we wait until we feel down, depressed, anxious or worried it can be so much harder. Our mental strength is busy battling those negative thoughts or emotions and our ability to identify different options is limited, meaning we have little left to move up the mental health continuum. To reach optimum mental fitness, we need to build our new mental muscles or neural pathways with the same deliberate intention as if we were building biceps, triceps or abs. We need to focus on our mental fitness training.
Why is mental fitness important at work?
Developing better mental fitness is particularly important at work as it makes us:
– More present – when we are more present and mindful we retain information better, we are aware of (but not disrupted by) distractions and we relate to others better. Just the qualities you may want to cultivate to have a productive and efficient team in the workplace.
– Have better cognitive function – we have greater focus, better memory and concentration, improved time management and greater communication skills.
– Have more confidence – when we are thriving, our relationship with ourselves improves, we have greater belief in our abilities and are more likely to take on complex work or put ourselves up for promotions etc.
– Focus on our self-care – our positive outlook means we look after ourselves better, build better habits and even sleep better!
How can I support my employees to become more mentally fit and thrive at work?
Having a productive, thriving, high-functioning workforce is essential to any business. But how can you boost employee’s mental fitness and enable them to thrive at work. Here are some suggestions:
– Create an open, supportive culture where employees (where possible) are empowered and can take ownership of their work, schedules, tasks etc.
– Create a no-blame, learning environment where mistakes are seen as learning experiences or opportunities to grow
– Provide time and space in employees schedules for exercise, meditation or short time-out. This could include extended lunch breaks, having flexible start and finish times, having flexible spaces within the workplace to meditate or sit with natural plants or having laptop free zones within an office environment.
– Enabling employees to work flexibly (within current policies) to manage work and well-being effectively. This could include ad-hoc home working, flexible start and finish times or the inclusion of ‘duvet days’ in your annual leave allowance.
– Providing mental fitness training to all employees
– Consider adding walking meetings to your meeting toolkit (if appropriate)
Whilst these are just a few suggestions, exactly what support you provide will depend on the size of your organisation and the type or flexibility of work involved. Whatever you choose, boosting employee mental fitness at work is likely to also have positive impacts for other areas of their lives – it’s a win-win really!