5 things we can learn from a retired Special Forces Major about mental fitness

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Known to be among the toughest people on the planet, Special Forces soldiers undergo a gruelling selection process which is followed by intense daily training to ensure that they are mentally and physically fit enough to stay alive while doing what they need to do.

Heston Russell is a Special Forces veteran who served for 16 years, including combat operations around the world, and finished his career in charge of selecting and training the next generation of Special Forces Commandos.

Heston shares with us his top learnings when it comes to mental fitness.

Five ways to boost your mental fitness

1. Look after your physical health

Mental fitness derives our performance in all areas. The saying goes, ‘where the head goes, the body will follow’; yet the body carries the head, so personal alignment is key.

Physical health and fitness, time and time again, has shown to provide a direct impact to mental fitness and performance therein.

2. Build your team

We all need community – it’s essential to mental health. A support network is simply those that we feel comfortable with being vulnerable in some part of ourselves.

It is very rare for anyone to be able to find only one person that covers off on all the parts that make us our individual whole – so make sure you find the team that, separately, keeps you together.

This is the team that helps us achieve any mission, not just the mission of the moment.

3. Be authentic

Authenticity is the key to avoid wasting any time or effort on personality uncertainty. There is already enough uncertainty in the world, so being authentic with yourself and others means you can already be ahead of the curve.

Within the military, and particularly in combat, there was never any room for anything other than your authentic self – as you can’t bluff your way out of a gun fight, literally.

Authenticity provided the platform for direct and transparent accountability, something we all know is needed a hell of a lot more in life today.

4. Know your purpose

Purpose is the most powerful motivation of all – understanding and connecting with your reason why, will always allow you to find a way to plot a path between that and where you are now.

This focus forward is a great layer of proactive resilience for your mental fitness, where you allow your longer term focus to not be as impacted or distracted by short term bumps or delays. This magnifies even stronger when others are connected with the same focus, united in purpose.

5. Breathe

It may sound simple, but if everyone made a focused effort to take a minute a few times a day to focus on taking full, deep breaths, we would all be less anxious.

Anytime you feel frustrated, stressed, anxious or struggling to concentrate, spend a minute taking breaths all the way in to the count of seven, and all the way out to the same count, and feel the physical difference.

It’s worked for me in the most dangerous situations I’ve ever faced, as well as those awkward public moments we all often dread.