A conversation with Upotential

Upotential is on course for making tools that have long been popular within sports psychology and coaching available to the masses. With an upcoming pop-up version at A house Ark of their otherwise online gym, we wanted to dig into the story behind Upotential. In a sit-down with founders Marianne “Maja” Marescotti and Catrin Eriksson, they let us in on the urge that made them found the company to begin with and what some challenges have been along the way.

Hello Maja and Catrin at Upotential, what is it that you do? 

We are the founders of Upotential – The Gym for Mental Fitness. A training club for personal growth where people from all over the world proactively train their mental skills. 

Since the concept of mental fitness gyms are still an upcoming trend globally, not everyone might be familiar with what that means. Can you talk a little on how the idea was born?

Upotential was sprung both out of frustration and the desire to create a positive impact. We felt that something was off in the discussions around mental health; instead of focusing on what can be done proactively to avoid mental health problems, too much focus has been put on reactive treatment. We wanted to create a solution that would inspire people to focus on their personal growth and proactively train their mental skills – before the problems occur. 

On your quest to make these tools available to people outside of the sports industry, what has been the response so far?

People are amazed by how easy it is to train your mental skills and quickly get concrete results.

You call Upotential ”a gym for mental fitness”, what are the perks of approaching mental exercise as if it was a traditional workout? 

We believe that it should be just as natural to go to the gym and train your mental skills as it is to go to the gym to strengthen yourself physically. Using the gym as a metaphor can hopefully enhance the importance of proactively focusing on your mental well-being: making it a part of your overall health routine and everyday life. 

What mistakes have you learned from along the way?

It’s impossible to know what journey you embark on when you start a company, and it’s easy to underestimate the challenges. Being founders, we have no choice but to simply learn to embrace uncertainty as our future depends on it. And no matter what mistakes or bad decisions we’ve made in the past we learn from them, and we move on.

Which one of the A house principles speaks to you the most and why? 

We really like “thinking by doing” – action is required to achieve order of one's thoughts, and vice versa. Just do it! 

For more information on the upcoming pop-up gym on Wednesday September 21 at A house Ark, see our Upcoming Program. Learn more about Upotential via their website, Instagram or Linkedin.