A few years ago, I sat in on a productivity lecture for writers. The speaker made a point that has stayed with me ever since:

As writers, we are also athletes.

Whereas runners focus their strength-training on their legs and swimmers focus on their arms, we writers must focus on exercising and strengthening our brains.

Fortunately, there’s an app for that!

The bLife Mind Fitness Program app focuses on providing tools and support to help people develop their psychological strengths. They believe a healthy and engaged mind is just as important to physical health as diet and exercise.

And when your body and mind are healthy, you’re much more likely to perform at your best. Meaning your productivity, creativity, and general ability to write will also improve.

Go to the bLife site (www.myblife.com) to build your Mind Fitness Profile. You’ll be given a five-minute questionnaire that starts with a basic demographic profile and moves into questions about your personality, how well you focus, your level of positivity, sleep habits, and social ties.

When you’re done, you click a button to view your Mind Profile. It includes a personality assessment with your top five traits—known as the “Big 5” in scientific groups.

Then, the program tells you where you have the most potential for growth.

Next comes a personalized Action Plan. It’s a series of activities prescribed on a weekly basis. The idea is to help your mind strengthen core skills that can help you deal with the stressors of everyday life. In turn, these skills help you perform better at whatever you want to do and handle stress with resilience.

You can simply take your prescribed actions to heart, or try the different monthly subscription plans that include weekly customized action plans complete with progress and stress-tracking tools.

I plan to try the bLife app for three months to see what kind of difference it makes. Because whether you’re just starting out, or you’ve been a successful Barefoot Writer for years… a healthy, happy mind can take you further, faster, than anything else.