Ever wondered how many thoughts cross your mind each day? In the last few minutes, you experienced at least three. A thought drew you to this article. The opening question sparked another. And now you’re probably thinking about thinking.
While there’s certainly variation from person to person, there’s no denying that thoughts constantly float through our minds. Research suggests the average person experiences around 6,000 per day. That’s a lot; and, thanks to our evolutionary nature, humans are hard-wired to focus on the negative. This negativity bias once kept us safe from threats, but today it can leave us stuck—overwhelmed, reactive, and unable to see possibilities.
For leaders, this mental chatter can be especially challenging. Decisions become harder, clarity slips, and confidence erodes. In a fast-paced world where leaders are expected to inspire, innovate, and navigate uncertainty, mental fitness becomes not just helpful—it becomes essential.
As a coach, much of my practice focuses on this very thing. My job is to help my clients do more, be more, and achieve more — individually and interpersonally — and all of that starts in the mind, with the power of positive intelligence.
The Leadership Imperative: Why Mental Fitness Matters
Mental fitness gives leaders the ability to:
- Manage stress effectively
- Navigate challenges with resilience, and
- Maintain focus, clarity, and optimism—even under pressure
- Respond to challenges thoughtfully, not reactively
- Reframe setbacks as opportunities for growth, and
- Inspire others with their clarity and confidence
Without mental fitness, leaders can become trapped by self-doubt, indecision, or reactive thinking. This doesn’t just impact their performance—it affects their teams, their organizations, and their ability to drive results.
Positive Intelligence 101
Coined in 2012 by Shirzad Chamine, positive intelligence is a measure of your ability to master your own mind. The concept is grounded in aspects of neuroscience, cognitive behavioral psychology, performance science, and positive psychology. According to Chamine, we all grapple with saboteurs, the critical inner voices that lead to self-sabotage, but we also possess sage powers that can be strengthened to help overcome self-sabotaging behaviors.
I value positive intelligence because it’s not about pretending everything is fine. It doesn’t suggest we can just think our problems away. It honors the reality that anxiety, self-doubt, and failure are part of the human experience, and offers a pathway for building our mental muscles to be adaptive, optimistic, and resilient in the face of trials and tribulations.
Three Tips for Improving Positive Intelligence
We all need positive intelligence training. While positive intelligence is an individual measure that affects how we show up for ourselves, it also impacts how we show up for others — whether that be in the workplace or our personal relationships. For this reason, developing positive intelligence is as important for the collective as it is for self. Here’s a few tips for increasing positive intelligence to improve your life:
1. Get to know your saboteurs
The first step to building positive intelligence is identifying your saboteurs. Different situations can bring out different saboteurs. Perhaps you stumbled through a question during a board presentation, and The Judge is saying you should have never been at the table in the first place. Or maybe you missed a deadline and The Pleaser is telling you to take on more than you can handle to make up for it. Once you understand what’s driving your negative thoughts, you can confront them by calling on your sage powers.
2. Tap into your sage powers.
Once you recognize what kind of intervention you need, you can use these practical power games to access your sage powers of empathy, exploration, innovation, navigation, or activation. For example, the ‘visualize the child’ game helps you practice self-empathy by imagining yourself as a child and thinking about a situation or a memory that reminds you that you are worthy of unconditional care and empathy. These games expand how you see yourself and your situation, helping you reframe and respond in a more positive way.
3. Make positivity a daily practice
Your PQ — or ‘positivity quotient’ — is a measure of the relative strength of your positive versus negative mental muscles. PQ reps help you quiet your mind (and, in turn, negative thoughts) by shifting your attention to your body and focusing on one of the five physical sensations (ie, sight, hearing smell, taste, or touch). Like physical exercise builds muscle, PQ reps build mental fitness. They help pause negative thoughts before they take root and shift your focus to your sage powers.
Developing positive intelligence isn’t just a personal journey—it’s a leadership imperative. By cultivating mental fitness, leaders not only enhance their own clarity and resilience but also inspire and uplift those around them. It’s a practice worth investing in for the betterment of yourself, your team, and your organization.
Use this assessment to get a baseline of your PQ and periodically re-take it to track improvements.
If you need help combining the emotional side of executive coaching with the professional side, contact us today.
