Decisions by Design | Edition 04

Beyond Emotional Intelligence: The Gateway to Mental Fitness

They say understanding the mind is the key to liberation.

Our thoughts become emotions, literally, energy in motion. Negative thoughts will drain our life force, while positive thoughts fuel it. Over time, this balance shapes not only our well-being but also the quality of our decisions.

Mental fitness is the capacity to meet life’s challenges with clarity and resilience rather than stress, reactivity, or self-sabotage. It is built by strengthening the brain’s positive neural pathways and weakening the negative ones. Like physical fitness, it improves with consistent practice.

At The BEACON Collective, we use Positive Intelligence™ (PQ) as a gateway to awareness, increased mental fitness, and greater well-being.

What is Positive Intelligence™?

Developed by researcher and Stanford lecturer Shirzad Chamine, Positive Intelligence integrates neuroscience, positive psychology, cognitive behavioral science, and performance science. At its core, it measures the balance between your Saboteurs, the inner voices that generate stress and self-doubt, and your Sage, the inner wisdom that fuels clarity, curiosity, and creativity.

Your mental fitness can be quantified through a PQ™ score, which reflects the proportion of time your brain is serving you versus sabotaging you. When the ratio of positive to negative thoughts dips below 3:1, well-being and decision quality decline.

PQ™ vs. EQ

• Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage your emotions and the emotions of others. It helps you regulate once emotions have already arisen.
• Positive Intelligence™ (PQ) goes deeper. It focuses on the thought patterns that create those emotions. By learning to observe, intercept, and redirect negative thoughts, you weaken old survival pathways. Through neuroplasticity, the brain rewires over time, shifting you from reactive patterns to clearer, calmer, and more resilient decision-making.

Why It Matters

What we love about PQ™ is its simplicity. It distills the inner voices into one Universal Saboteur, The Judge, and nine Accomplice Saboteurs, all shaped by early conditioning. By naming these patterns, you gain the power to meet your mind not as an adversary but as a curious, conscious observer.

Until next time.

With clarity and care, 

Courtney