A free library for building mental strength.
Mental fitness is growing your mental and emotional capacity through daily practice.
The weekly newsletter
One idea, the research behind it, and one thing to try. Every week.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
Health & Vitality•6 min read
A Psychiatrist’s Most Overlooked Prescription
Read the storyLatest stories
Connection to Self•7 min
You Said You’d Stop. So Why Are You Still Doing It?
Knowing better rarely breaks a habit. Learn why wanting can outlast enjoyment, and try a five-step agency reset built on deciding before the moment arrives.
Connection to Self•5 min
Name the Feeling Before You Try to Fix It
Putting a feeling into words calms the brain’s alarm response, and a more precise word points you to a better response. Here’s how to build the habit.
Health & Vitality•7 min
You Don’t Need a New Life. You Need to Feel Alive in This One.
You can be free of any diagnosis and still feel like you are going through the motions. The research on languishing, mind-wandering, flow and purpose, plus a four-question self-check with one rep each.
Start with a pillar
- Connection to Self26 resources →
Understanding your internal state, emotions, and nervous system so you can intentionally respond to life instead of constantly reacting to it.
- Connection to Others4 resources →
Building meaningful relationships, empathy, and support systems. Humans are biologically hardwired to regulate stress through connection, meaning resilience cannot be built in isolation.
- Health & Vitality8 resources →
Prioritizing sleep, daily movement, and nutrition. You cannot out-think exhaustion, so your mental resilience can only rise as high as your physical foundation allows.
- Foundations13 resources →
The core ideas behind mental fitness and the simplest daily habits for building it, starting from zero.
Connection to Others•7 min
How to Forgive Someone Without Excusing What They Did
Forgiveness does not require forgetting, trusting again or dropping consequences. What the research shows, how the REACH method works, and how to forgive yourself.
Connection to Others•8 min
Being Shy Isn’t What’s Holding You Back
Research on shyness found that what predicts whether someone approaches a social situation is not how shy they are. It is whether they think shyness can change.
The Mental Fitness Podcast
Latest episodes
Hosted by Dave Barney and Luke Olson.
New•51 min
You’re Not Stuck With the Brain You Have | Dr. Steven Storage on Mental Fitness
Connection to Self•54 min
Why Do I Keep Doing This? The Agency Reset for Habits You Don’t Even Enjoy Anymore
Guest Interview•50 min
Name It Before You Fix It: Why Finding the Right Word for a Feeling Changes Everything
Health & Vitality•46 min
Are You Living or Just on Autopilot? The Aliveness Audit and the Science of Vitality