Navigating Mental Fitness in Healthcare: Energy, Mindset & Positive Intelligence
Mental fitness is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity. In today’s high-stakes healthcare environment, resilience, emotional agility, and a healthy mindset are as critical as clinical expertise.
This post kicks off a powerful new series exploring how healthcare professionals and physician entrepreneurs can cultivate mental fitness using the science-backed framework of Positive Intelligence (PQ). We begin with a foundational question:
What kind of energy are you operating from?
The Four Domains of Human Energy
Like smartphones, we all run on energy—but not just the physical kind. There are four interconnected domains that fuel our performance and well-being:
Physical Energy – Your stamina, strength, and sleep hygiene
Cognitive Energy – Your focus, mental clarity, and executive functioning.
Emotional Energy – Your ability to process, express, and regulate emotions.
Spiritual Energy – Your sense of purpose, values, and alignment with a deeper mission.
These domains overlap with what thought leader Robin Sharma calls the Four Internal Sets:
Energy Domain Corresponding Set
Mindset Your beliefs and thought patterns
Heartset Your emotional connection and empathy
Soulset Your purpose and spiritual grounding
Healthset Your physical and physiological health
Why it matters: When one of these areas is depleted, it throws off the rest—leading to burnout, disconnection, or stagnation. Mental fitness begins by recognizing where your energy is flowing... or being drained.
The Power of Perception
The average person experiences 60,000 thoughts per day—and most of them are unconscious and repetitive. Worse, they tend to lean negative. Why? Because our brains evolved for survival, not happiness.
This negative bias leads to:
Over-identification with self-criticism
Catastrophic thinking
Reactivity under stress
The good news? You can rewire your mental habits. It starts with awareness. You may not be able to change the stressor—but you can change how you interpret it.
This is the foundation of Positive Intelligence—a methodology developed by Shirzad Chamine that helps you build resilience by weakening your inner critic and strengthening your inner sage.
Saboteur vs. Sage: The Mental Tug-of-War
Every thought you have comes from one of two voices:
The Saboteur: Your Inner Critic
This voice is fear-based, self-limiting, and rooted in early life conditioning. The most common? The Judge—harsh, perfectionistic, and exhausting.
My Saboteur is called the “Terminator”—aggressive, relentless, and unforgiving when I make mistakes.
Saboteurs thrive on stress and can be triggered by trauma, change, or uncertainty. There are nine types in total, and recognizing yours is the first step toward liberation.
Try this: Take the free Saboteur Assessment at positiveintelligence.com
The Sage: Your Inner Guide
The Sage is the opposite. It’s grounded, curious, and wise. It helps you navigate challenges with clarity, creativity, and compassion.
The Sage mind reframes setbacks as gifts—opportunities for growth, connection, and innovation.
Mental Fitness in Medicine: Why Some Thrive While Others Burn Out
In the same hospital, under the same pressures, some physicians burn out—while others rise. The differentiator?
Their perspective, not their environment.
Much of our suffering in healthcare is self-inflicted: unchallenged beliefs, internalized pressure, and unexamined thought loops. Positive Intelligence gives us tools to interrupt these patterns.
5 Strategies to Build Mental Fitness
1. Identify Your Saboteurs
Notice the inner monologue when you feel defensive, overwhelmed, or ashamed. Is it the Judge? The Avoider? The Hyper-Achiever?
Self-awareness creates space for self-compassion.
2. Practice PQ Reps (Positive Intelligence Repetitions)
These are short mental exercises—less than 2 minutes—that shift your brain from stress-mode to Sage-mode. Examples:
Rubbing two fingers together slowly with focused attention
Noticing the sounds in your environment
Mindfully sipping a drink
📌 Tip: Set phone reminders to practice 3-5 times a day. It’s like strength training for your brain.
3. Journal or “Download” Your Emotions
End your day with a 5-minute thought download:
What did I feel today?
What thoughts triggered me?
Was I in Saboteur or Sage mode?
This helps recognize patterns and build awareness over time.
4. Assess Your Energy Levels Daily
Ask:
“Am I physically tired, mentally foggy, emotionally reactive, or spiritually misaligned?”
Even 5 minutes of exercise, breathwork, or reconnection with your “why” can recharge a drained domain.
5. The Hot Stove Metaphor
Imagine touching a hot stove—your body sends pain signals so you’ll move your hand. But many of us keep our mental hand on the stove—replaying failures, catastrophizing the future, or dwelling in shame.
Mental fitness helps you say:
“I don’t have to stay in this thought loop.”
Awareness → Detachment → Reframing.
The Role of Spirituality & Purpose
As Victor Frankl wrote in Man’s Search for Meaning:
“When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.”
In healthcare, this often manifests as overworking, numbing, or chasing credentials. But what we need is alignment with purpose.
💡 Coaching can help: Clarify your values. Challenge limiting beliefs. Reconnect with what truly matters.
Why Mental Fitness Matters in Healthcare
In a system built on complexity and chronic stress, our inner clarity becomes our biggest competitive edge.
Whether you’re a physician executive, a clinical innovator, or a practice owner—your mindset drives your outcomes. Mental fitness isn’t just personal—it’s strategic.
Recap: Start Here
Strategy Impact
Identify Saboteurs Build self-awareness
Practice PQ Reps Regulate stress quickly
Journal Thoughts Spot mental patterns
Assess Energy Target the right recovery
Reframe Pain Shift from reactivity to purpose
What’s Next?
This is just the beginning of our Mental Fitness in Medicine series.
Next, we’ll explore:
How to apply the Sage Powers in real-time decision-making
Using mental fitness to improve leadership presence
Tools to shift from burnout to aligned achievement
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