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Hi! I'm Anita Perrigo.

The Importance of Mental Fitness to Prevent Burnout and Optimize Impact 🧠 📈 💪🏻

Published 10 months ago • 4 min read

Hi Reader, here’s how to improve your and your team’s well-being

'The way of the Sage is ease and flow.' ~ Shirzad Chamine

The 'inner critic(s)', the ‘itty bitty shitty committee’, the ‘devil on your shoulder’. These are all names for what Shirzad Chamine has coined the Saboteurs in his Positive IntelligenceⓇ (PQ) Program

We all have them.

The voice that keeps you awake in the middle of the night. The voice that sabotages your performance and robs you of your happiness by causing stress, worry, anxiety, guilt, shame, frustration, fear and disappointment.

The voices that often lead to overwork, compassion fatigue and burnout.

The good news? Through mental fitness training, we can strengthen three core muscles to weaken the Saboteurs and strengthen our Sage. Much like working out in the gym helps strengthen our muscles to help us get physically stronger, we can strengthen the neural pathways to activate the areas of the brain that help us thrive.

I know, some of you may be thinking, but Anita, I thought you were a health and wellness coach? Why the pivot to mental fitness training and coaching?

Well, I am BOTH of those things. I am a health and wellness coach AND a Positive Intelligence (PQ) Coach on a mission to prevent burnout and optimize vitality and well-being in female-led nonprofits and healthcare teams.

You're passionate about the work you do in your organizations and at home. You do important work. There's also more work than there is YOU to go around. And unless you're building a foundation of vitality, regularly recharging your batteries and creating boundaries, it's difficult to increase your impact and burnout is likely inevitable.

Vitality = mental, emotional and physical wellbeing

Positive Intelligence training focuses on mental and emotional training to help us thrive in all areas of life.

This past week on social media, I shared my personal story of how I’ve gotten through this past year dealing with chronic pain and limited functional mobility. One of the key drivers for me has been integrating the Positive Intelligence operating system into my daily life - at work and at home. You can check the full post out on Facebook or Instagram.

Like you, I have struggled with negative thought patterns sabotaging my work and my well-being.

As a coach, healthcare provider and Clinical Program Manager, I have also seen how sabotaging thought patterns can permeate even the most high-performing teams and organizations.

In my experience helping individuals, healthcare teams and nonprofit leaders build a foundation of vitality and well-being, I have never seen a program that provides the practical application that PQ does.

The PQ Program helps participants build a healthy mind through mental fitness training, laying the foundation for optimal performance, relationships and well-being - at work and at home.

You may be thinking, ‘That sounds great but my organization already has a wellness program.’

Wellness programs certainly improve aspects of employee well-being, but they don’t address the root causes of stress, anxiety and conflict.

If you’re a healthcare or nonprofit leader, you’ve undoubtedly invested a great deal of energy in strategies to improve workplace culture and employee performance. From team activities and wellness events to employee recognition programs that foster relationship-building and boost morale, there’s a host of tools at your disposal.

But if you want to effect lasting, positive change, you need to get to the root

of what’s keeping your team from reaching its full potential.

The good news is you don’t have to go it alone.

Vitality Coaching and the PQ Program are your partners in establishing and nurturing a culture of positivity and high performance.

The PQ Program is a proven neuroscience-based approach to building mental fitness in individuals and across organizations. The program provides tools and training to cultivate a positive mindset that enables your team to maximize performance and well-being simultaneously.

You don’t have to take my word for it. These are just a few of the testimonials from some of the world’s top organizations.


“Hands down, the best training I have ever had. Now I feel fully equipped to be my very best at work and home. I am much more productive because this training has shown me how to free up my mind from thoughts that end up wasting a great deal of energy and time. Everyone would benefit from this training.” —Janet C., HP, Inc.
“Positive Intelligence helped me a lot in identifying all my Saboteurs which negatively impacted my performance and happiness. The program gave me a wide range of tools to handle these negative emotions and stress, enabling me to cope much better with daily challenges supported by a positive mindset. The program for me is a real gift for turning problems into opportunities.” — Peter B., Mercedes-Benz

What I love most about the Positive Intelligence Program is its practical applications. It’s not something you just read about and learn, it’s something you DO and BECOME. You’ll not only talk the talk - but you will walk the walk and apply its principles every day in your operations and your interactions.

I personally and wholeheartedly use the PQ Program to combat stress, manage conflict, and help my clients do the same to reach their full potential for performance and happiness.

I’d love to show you how the PQ Program can help you and your team be more inspired and more engaged at work.

Finding your PQ Score will provide a great starting point for tracking progress on your mental fitness journey.


Are you Thriving or Surviving?

Measure your Mental Fitness

Your PQ Score (short for Positive Intelligence Quotient) reveals your mental fitness level by measuring the strength of your positive mental muscles vs the negative.

If you’re physically fit, you can climb steep hills without physical stress. Similarly, if you’re mentally fit, you can handle life’s challenges without mental stress, frustration, or other negative emotions.

How Mentally Fit Are You?

Start Your Mental Fitness Journey Today

How We Self-Sabotage

Saboteurs are the voices in your head that generate negative emotions in the way you handle life’s everyday challenges. They represent automated patterns in your mind for how to think, feel, and respond.

They cause all of your stress, anxiety, self-doubt, frustration, restlessness, and unhappiness.

They sabotage your performance, wellbeing, and relationships.

*Discover Your Saboteurs and then book a FREE Discovery Session to learn how to quiet them for good*

Learn How to

Overcome Your Saboteurs

and Progress from Surviving to Thriving

Much like a dandelion, when we start to transform our mental and physical well-being, we can’t help but plant those seeds in others.

Yours in health and vitality,

Anita 🧡

Hi! I'm Anita Perrigo.

Welcome! I'm the founder and head coach of Vitality Coaching + Consulting. This monthly newsletter is an intentional dose of education and inspiration to help passion-driven women bring your full + best energy to the people, the causes and the moments most important to you. Subscribe for FREE tips + resources as well as be the first to know about new course offerings and coaching programs. Enjoy! And don't forget to share with your friends. 🧡

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