Whether or not you think New Year’s Resolutions are a good idea, it’s pretty common at this time of the year for people to make plans for things they want to achieve or “tick off the list” during the next 12 months. Taking some time to reflect and to define these goals can bring reward and a greater sense of self-awareness.
They might be physical challenges like entering a run or other event, climbing a mountain, trying out a new sport or getting better at one you already love.
After several years when travel has been harder than usual, they might be travel goals, making plans to get on a plane and finally get to experience that amazing city or destination we’ve been dreaming about while stuck at home. They might be experiences like music festivals or friends and families to visit.
Or maybe they are other goals, developing new skills, learning new things, achieving career ambitions like a promotion or training course.
Most of these things are so familiar to us they are almost part of everyday life and conversation at this time of the year.
Maybe as we get better as a culture and society about talking about our mental health we should also get better at including aims and ambitions for our mental fitness, when plotting and planning about our futures.
So if you were going to add a “Mental Fitness” objective or two to your plans for 2022 what would be on your list?
Here at Cognomie we think Mental Fitness is made up from 12 foundations. You can read more about our Mental Fitness framework here. Setting your own objective might start with reflecting on which foundations you think are your strengths and which may be weaknesses allowing you to focus on areas right for you, a bit like deciding we’re really going to work on those glutes or abs or pecs. If you want to dive a bit deeper into your Mental Fitness you can take our Cognosis self reflection to see how you score in different areas – get in touch with us to arrange a benchmarking session on our platform.
5 ideas for setting Mental Fitness goals
For now here are 5 ideas or reflections for strengthening your Mental Fitness to inspire your plans for 2022. Would you benefit from one of these? Or do you have your own Mental Fitness plans?
Do I need more sleep?
Use a sleep tracker. Write down your average per night at the end of March. Do you feel like you’re getting enough sleep? Try to have improved on it via small steps by September.
How can I reframe stress?
A large scale US study showed that people who see stress as a positive force in life have longer life expectancy. Read our e-book about stress and reflect on the relationship you have with stress now and the one you could have.
What is my purpose?
Having a strong sense of purpose about what we do helps us approach challenges with more energy and strength. Take some time to reflect on what your primary purpose is for your work or other projects. Whatever your purpose is, whether financial or about self development or helping others, write it down somewhere to be able to go and revisit when times are stressful or harder.
What makes me happy?
Write down 10 small things that make you happy. Try to do one of them every week.
When is my resilience time?
We all know that feeling that when we get busy, the time we have to renew ourselves and strengthen our resilience often gets lost. We might use that time in different ways, going to the gym, walking in nature, talking to friends, having quality time with family. Schedule the time as if it was a meeting and feel a little bit proud of yourself each time you use the time as planned.
Make 2022 a Mental Fitness year
Whatever 2022 brings for all of us, taking some time to think about your Mental Fitness and how to improve it, should bring more positivity to your year ahead.
