How to reach peak mental fitness

The COVID 19 pandemic has changed the way we work literally overnight. And even though we are taking our cautious first steps towards a ‘new’ normal, a large proportion of the workforce is still being actively encouraged to continue working from home. This means for many, that they will continue to face challenging work environments with whole families struggling to share the same space and other frustrations around IT connectivity and broadband speeds.

In this new world we find ourselves in, there is a need to be mindful of issues that are related to remote working and that might impact morale, be it a communication breakdown or colleagues feeling disconnected and isolated. The impact of shutting ourselves away is bound to have long term effects on our physical and mental health and this is where wellbeing can help mitigate for the impact of remote working and lockdown and provide some of the support needed to maintain a healthy, productive workforce.

What is mental fitness?

We all understand what physical fitness means but we rarely talk about mental fitness. In fact, the same levels of training are required for both but instead of going to the gym to workout, mental fitness is all abo ut improving performance through control of your state of psychological and emotional wellbeing. It is about managing your internal capacities such as focus, attention and perspective to help engage productively in the wor k and home environments and it is a combination of all of these factors that lay the foundations for a range of skills and competencies that are so important in a business setting. Covering everything that is important to people and their lives, mental fitness is said to raise productivity, cut absenteeis m, and reduce physical illness: all of which are vital to economic survival as we turn the corner in fighting the virus.