The Thrive Project

A new way of thinking from an Olympic psychologist

Simplyhealth is working closely with Charlie Unwin, Sports Performance Psychologist, to bring to life The Thrive Project. Charlie has a load of tips and advice on how to change the way you think about your mental and physical fitness. All of which we hope can help you learn how to thrive during stressful and uncertain times. Basically, 2020.

Charlie shares updates on how to adopt new thought patterns. Patterns that will help you think, feel and do differently in challenging or stressful situations. Charlie uses his knowledge and experience of working with the military and elite athletes to bring you this helpful programme, giving you the chance to build resilience and be able to adapt. Your journey starts today.

Ready to jump in and learn Olympic-level strategies for coping with stress? Let’s go.

Get to know Charlie Unwin Part 1: Positive Doing Part 2: Positive Thinking Part 3: Positive Feeling

If you want to positively change your external world, you must positively change your internal world.

Training ourselves to thrive from the inside-out in an uncertain world

Shifting the way we think about health

Covid-19 has put the UK's health in the spotlight, forcing us to reflect on the way we live. Only when we're jolted from our daily rhythm and forced to live in isolation, do we start to reflect on what we thought as healthy. This is an excellent opportunity to recognise and appreciate the things most important to us – as well as question the routines, rituals, and beliefs that haven't been as helpful as we may have expected.

Everything we do has an impact on our health. From how much sleep we get, to what food we eat and the way we use social media. Despite this, most of us have a limited view of health and what it means to be healthy. Many believe they're healthy if they're free from pain or disease. But defining 'good health' as the absence of 'bad health' is like defining a dog as not a cat. It makes no sense! Worse still, it gives us nothing positive or compelling to work towards.

Thrive, don't just survive!

In sport, we don't describe an athlete as fit just because they don't have injuries. To be fit, they need to invest positively in developing their strength and energy. This is as true for mental health as it is for physical health. Many athletes nowadays have a mental training programme integrated with their physical programme.

It's about being positive

At the Olympic Games, an athlete won't perform anywhere near their best if the only goal of mental training is to minimise anxiety – something which can easily consume them under so much pressure. Instead, they have to proactively work on being committed, motivated, confident, and focused. This is when they're at their best – this is when they're thriving, not surviving. By harnessing this state of mind, they can perform with freedom and make fewer mistakes.

Athletes haven't got the time to wait for their environment to be perfect before they can perform well. After all, this may never happen. So, they have to learn to regulate themselves from the inside out.

How an ex-England Rugby captain is thriving through resilience

Dylan Hartley amassed over 90 caps for England, captaining the side to a Six Nations grand slam in the process. He knows pressure, and he knows ways to handle it. But 2020 has thrown up a few curveballs for all of us. Charlie Unwin sat down with Dylan to discuss life in lockdown for the now green-fingered rugby star, with a focus on building resilience through change.

We may be biased, but It's definitely worth 14 minutes of your time. They cover the important topics for the here and now, like remaining positive when challenges arise, only trying to control the controllable, and finding a new routine with the family all at home. If you have any questions, leave us a comment on the YouTube video, give us a tweet, or head over to Facebook.

We hope you enjoy the discussion as much as we did...