You’ve mastered proper form for deadlifts. You understand the importance of eating enough lean protein and timing your intake. You track your sleep cycles with precision. But are you training the most powerful muscle of all—your mind?
The Missing Piece in Your Wellness Routine
We invest countless hours strengthening our bodies yet often neglect the cognitive fitness that determines how effectively we use those bodies. Just as physical strength requires consistent training, mental resilience develops through deliberate practice—specifically, through the practice of cognitive reframing.
As a leadership coach working with ambitious professionals, I’ve observed that the most effective leadership begins from within. Those who develop mental fitness through reframing, while honoring the mind-body connection achieve more sustainable results in both their professional and personal lives. The leaders who truly thrive recognize that their physical well-being supports their cognitive capacity, emotional resilience and executive presence. By approaching transformation holistically rather than compartmentalizing development, they access their full power and potential across all domains of life, navigating challenges with both wisdom and vitality.
Your Brain on Reframing: The Neuroscience of Perspective
Our brains contain a small structure called the habenula—essentially our internal “failure detector.” When activated by perceived setbacks, the habenula can shut down motivation and trigger stress hormones that affect everything from muscle recovery to sleep quality.
However, advances in our understanding of the brain suggest something remarkable: when we practice new ways of thinking, including cognitive reframing, we can create alternative mental pathways. With consistent practice, these new thought patterns can become our default response to challenges.
Think of it like creating a new trail through dense forest. The first few times require conscious effort, but with repetition, the path becomes clearer and easier to travel. Eventually, your brain naturally follows this new route without deliberate thought.
This isn’t just motivational talk—cognitive reframing creates real physical benefits that Johns Hopkins Medicine has recognized:
- It helps reduce stress hormones that can interfere with recovery and sleep
- It creates the mental conditions that support better rest and rejuvenation
- It helps calm the inflammatory responses that can follow prolonged stress
- It enhances your ability to focus and perform during challenging situations
I’ve seen these benefits not just in my own life, but in the transformations my clients experience when they apply reframing to both their professional challenges and their wellness practices. The mind-body connection isn’t just a concept—it’s a powerful tool we can actively engage to enhance our physical results.
Beyond Positive Thinking: The Practice of Reframing
“Reframing breaks the old, stale patterns of the past so that we can expand our views with new perspectives which will lead us into the future.” (Andrea Mein DeWitt, Name, Claim & Reframe: Your Path to a Well-Lived Life, 2022)
Cognitive reframing isn’t simply putting a positive spin on your thinking, which could be interpreted as forced or inauthentic. Instead, reframing is a science-based approach that acknowledges reality while discovering legitimate alternative perspectives.
Here’s what makes reframing different:
- Positive thinking says: “Just look on the bright side! Everything happens for a reason.”
- Reframing says: “This injury signals my body’s need for recovery and provides valuable insight about my training patterns. By listening to this feedback, I can prevent future setbacks and build a more sustainable fitness approach that will ensure less risk of injury.”
- Positive thinking says: “Don’t worry about your injury. Stay positive!”
- Reframing says: “I’m grateful this injury happened now rather than during my event. This recovery period gives me the chance to explore cross-training that will complement my running, learn how my body signals overtraining before it becomes injury, and develop the upper body strength I’ve been neglecting.”
The distinction is crucial. Generic positive thinking often dismisses genuine challenges, while effective reframing transforms them into strategic advantages.
The Name, Claim, and Reframe® Methodology
After years of coaching clients and my own practical application, I’ve developed a systematic approach to cognitive reframing that works across all wellness domains. This three-step process helps you transform limiting perspectives into empowering ones:
NAME: Identify the source of your emotional triggers.
- Ask yourself: “Why am I reacting instead of responding to this challenge?”
- Example: “I feel frustrated when I don’t see immediate results from my fitness routine.”
CLAIM: Choose resonant actions using core value alignment as your strategy.
- Ask yourself: “What action or thinking can help bring me back into integrity?”
- Example: “I value consistency and long-term health, not just quick fixes.”
REFRAME: Shift your perspective and transform adverse situations with a mindset that encourages optimism and visionary thinking.
- Ask yourself: “What learning or new perspectives can I harvest and take forward?”
- Example: “This plateau is teaching me patience and giving my body time to adapt at a cellular level.”
Mental Reps: Reframing Common Wellness Challenges
Just as you wouldn’t expect to build physical strength without consistent training, mental fitness requires regular practice so you can give yourself both grace and the space to learn through setbacks. Here are three common wellness challenges along with complete reframing workouts:
1. Your Workout Plateau
NAME the emotional trigger: “I feel discouraged when my progress stalls despite consistent effort.”
CLAIM a core value: “I value the journey of continuous improvement over immediate results.”
REFRAME your thinking: “This plateau is my body’s intelligent adaptation process. It’s creating the foundation for my next breakthrough and teaching me to refine my approach rather than just work harder.”
2. Your Sleep Struggles
NAME the emotional trigger: “I feel anxious when I can’t fall asleep, which makes sleeping even harder.”
CLAIM a core value: “I value listening to my body’s needs over forcing specific outcomes.”
REFRAME your thinking: “This wakeful period is an opportunity to practice gentle mindfulness. By releasing the pressure to sleep, I create the mental conditions that actually welcome rest.”
3. Your Nutrition Setbacks
NAME the emotional trigger: “I feel guilty and defeated when I break my nutrition plan.”
CLAIM a core value: “I value sustainable lifestyle changes over perfect adherence to rigid rules.” (It’s ok to celebrate by eating a small sliver of cake or a wee bit of cookie!)
REFRAME your thinking: “This moment of deviation provides valuable data about what triggers my sugar cravings. Rather than a failure, it’s feedback that helps me design a more realistic and sustainable approach to healthy eating.”
Training for Mental Fitness: Your Daily Workout
Like any fitness routine, reframing gets easier and more effective with consistent practice. Here’s your daily mental training regimen with practical examples:
Morning Mental Warmup (2 minutes)
- The Challenge: “I have a packed schedule with back-to-back meetings today.”
- The Reframe: “Each meeting is an opportunity to create value and connection. The tight schedule will help me stay focused and present in each conversation.”
- Pro Tip: Do this while brewing your morning coffee or during your commute.
Midday Reset (30 seconds)
- The Challenge: “My workout plan got derailed because the gym is too crowded.”
- The Reframe: “This is a perfect chance to try that bodyweight HIIT routine I’ve been curious about, which will challenge my body in new ways.”
- Pro Tip: Set a reminder on your phone for a midday reframing check-in.
Evening Integration (3 minutes)
- The Challenge: “I didn’t make as much progress on my fitness goals as I’d hoped this week.”
- The Reframe: “This week showed me exactly where I need more support and structure. These insights will make next week’s approach much more effective.”
- Pro Tip: Pair this with another evening routine—like brushing your teeth or setting out tomorrow’s workout clothes—to build the habit.
Reframing: The Ultimate Performance Enhancer
The most sophisticated training programs and nutrition plans in the world can’t overcome the limitations of a fixed mindset. Your body can only go as far as your mind allows it to.
This is why cognitive reframing isn’t just another wellness technique—it’s the master key that unlocks your full potential across every domain. When you transform how you interpret challenges, you literally transform your biochemistry, your neural pathways, and ultimately, your results.
The most elite athletes understand this truth: physical training builds capacity, but mental training determines how fully you’ll access and express that capacity. This is why gold medal performances come not just from those with the strongest bodies, but from those with the most resilient minds.
The next time you face a setback in your wellness journey—whether it’s a missed workout, a plateau in progress, or an unexpected injury—remember that your response to that moment will determine your trajectory far more than the setback itself.
Your muscles respond to resistance. Your cardiovascular system adapts to demand. And your mind grows stronger through the deliberate practice of reframing challenges into opportunities.
Mental fitness isn’t just complementary to physical wellness—it’s the foundation upon which all lasting transformation is built.
Andrea Mein DeWitt, M.Ed., PCC, CPCC, is the Global Authority on Cognitive Reframing and author of Name, Claim & Reframe: Your Path to a Well-Lived Life, recognized by NBC’s TODAY Show as 2023’s best motivational read, and the companion Name, Claim & Reframe Workbook, that provides practical exercises for applying these principles. Through her coaching, workshops, and writing, she helps ambitious professionals transform their perspectives to unlock their full power and potential. Learn more at andreadewittadvisors.com.
