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Philosophit: Coaching Life Athletes to Thrive
by Phitness
Phitness (ˈfɪtnɛs) =
Clear Thinking
Free Choosing
Energetic Success
Φ Philosophit™ is the Premier Coaching Program based on Rigorous, Timeless, Philosophical Skill
All meaningful innovation and progress—whether in life, career, relationships, or human knowledge—begins with philosophical clarity on: reality, knowledge, logic, and practical questions of ethics.
At Philosophit™, we distill these foundations into three areas of philosophical strength we call Phitness: clear thinking, free choosing, and effective, energetic implementation of success.
Our trainings are based on the global heritage of the three ancient traditions of philosophy, stretching back beyond 1500 BCE: the European, Chinese, and Indian.
Phitness skills ordinarily develop over years, if not decades, as ordinary philosophy training is academic.
Philosophit™ is a non-academic, outcome-focused approach that gets you Phit in under a year
Who We Coach
(You Might Fit In More Than One Group!)
Reflective Elders have traversed many challenges in life, but one challenge that our childhood education does not prepare us for is to learn how to thrive as we age. It assumes a level of physical fitness that is normal in youth, and trains us largely for midlife. Reflective elders have many unique and compounding challenges to contend with: transitions in career, retirement, loss of relationships, loss of loved ones, identity loss that was fixed by midlife activities, and new health challenges, and free time! We are here to show all of our Life Athletes that life is meant for living, and Phitness skills show that it is never too late to thrive.
Mid Life Performers are primed in youth for a life of relationships, career, perhaps children. But the reality of living is often far more imperfect than what we anticipate when we are young. Mid Life Performers have to often contend with the insufficiency of their preparation for competing demands and time pressures but have several overlapping challenges with their former younger version of themselves, and the later mature version: the creep of health challenges, but the unfinished buisness of designing one’s life. We view buisness, career and corperate coaching as a sub-area of concern for this group who have to create success under pressure, with people they are not usually related to, and in competitive environments. We show Life Athletes in this stage how the outcomes they want and deserve are natural consequences of their own Phitness.
Life Architects have often finished formal education but have many choices ahead of them and a whole adult life to be lived. We find at this stage many Life Architects are struggling with big life questions that, when answered, will determine how they spend their time and energy. Questions about work-life balance, career choices, the importance and space of relationships, projects, and hobbies, but also radical course corrections. Having been primed for the moment that they are adults who live life on their own, for Life Archictects, there are still many decisions to be made. Some of these decisions involve a radical rethink about past decisions made prior to adulthood. Phitness training at this early and pivotal stage sets a Life Athlete up for longterm success in all areas of life.
We Know We Can Help: Phitness is for Everyone
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Dr. Shyam is such a treasure: wise, thoughtful, dedicated, true leader, scholar and coach. He is rigorous and thorough.
Sarah K. Blunkosky
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Since being coached by Dr. Shyam, I’ve learned that my old reticence in being proactive was mistaken. I now feel invincible and empowered to confront and change problems into successes. With Dr. Shyam’s courses, what is unique is that you will not learn about his opinions. You will learn to use reason to render explicit the thinking of all proposals.
Alexandre Barchechat, PhD
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Dr. Shyam has been a profound influence on both my life and my practice—which, as I’ve learned from him, are not so separate after all… Dr. Shyam’s coaching is refreshingly direct and no-nonsense, yet always infused with the deep care essential for creating a space where diversity can truly flourish … I am moved by and grateful for his work and guidance.
Julia Eda Shemes
The data is clear: Philosophers are smart, unassuming, and Excel in Life
Yet: most coaching programs give you psychotherapy.
The best-kept secret: Philosophers are Winners. Not only are philosophers the most satisfied with their education (BBC: “Philosophy students ‘a happy lot’”), philosophy also helps master all other learning (BBC: “Philosophy sessions ‘boost primary school results’”). The data shows that philosophers are smart, excel on standardized tests (SAT, GRE, etc.), and are competitively successful in their careers (Daily Nous: “Value of Philosophy”; Big Think: “Philosophy majors are smarter than others — and tend to make more money”).
We also know that philosophers are ahead of the game in processing and succeeding in relationships and life stages (such as the transition from youth to old age), as philosophers have written on and thought through these challenges since ancient times. To thrive in these areas of life requires philosophical sensitivity.
Most Coaching Tries to Solve Philosophical Problems Without Doing Philosophy. Meaning and purpose, fulfillment and success in all areas of life, including health, career, and relationships, are ultimately philosophical matters. To grasp and accomplish them requires Phitness. Psychology-based coaching assumes that we have a grasp on what meaning, purpose, fulfillment, and success look like and then tries to give us strategies to accomplish them. But that is like providing driving directions to a destination you haven’t clearly identified and don’t know is real. It’s a waste of time.
Philosophit™ works because it addresses root causes, not symptoms. Conventional coaching is largely based on psychotherapy, which attempts to fix our mind, personality, or behavior to suit our goals and aspirations. We know rather that problems arise when the full, competent, capable you does not show up— that’s the you that has to be Phit to figure out where you are going. You don’t need to be fixed. Your frustrations, how you feel, and what you do, is just a symptom. You have to be freed from the confusion that holds you back.
- Much of the confusion we suffer from is a result of how we have been treated, and not supported, when we needed help.
At Philosophit™, we know that problems take root by Phitness errors.
If we do not think clearly → we do not understand all of our options.
If we do not understand all of our options → we do not choose freely.
If we do not choose freely → we fail to energetically execute plans for our success.
Then, we live troubled lives, characterized by a haunting sense of our inability.
Life is not something that can be planned out by others as each one of us has to live our own life.
Without Phitness skills we lack the essential tools to live succesfully.
Philosophit™ returns to the timeless foundations of successful living in philosophy and reinvents its application for the modern age.
Life is Short: Actualize Your Phitness in Under a Year!
Get the Support You Didn't Have and Deserve
We offer a range of programs from short term to 6-Month Mentorship Trainings to fill the gaps and give you the training you deserve.
Phitness skills, like ordinary physical fitness skills, are best developed under the coaching of someone who has done the work themselves, understands the challenges and dangers, and can teach you the most efficient way to develop those skills.
We simplify. Instead of focusing on theory, we focus on skill. We do this successfully in a short time by focusing on removing the impediments that block these skills from taking root in our life.
And you won’t go it alone. You’ll be supported every step of the way by Dr. Shyam and a community of people doing the work alongside you.
Learn more about Philosophit’s various programs to start your Phitness journey.
The Measurable Impact of Philosophit
Philosophit translates deep reasoning into practical living. Our programmes deliver quantifiable improvements in clarity, confidence, and resilience—key indicators of autonomous and adaptive well-being.
85%
88%
82%
90%
Methodology: Based on outcomes reported by 100+ coached Life Athletes since 2020, as part of Dr. Shyam’s mentorship.
Comparison: Psychology-Based Coaching vs. Philosophit (click on squares)
Mindset Coaching vs. Philosophit
| Mindset Coaching | Philosophit | |
| Core Focus | Identifying and reshaping limiting beliefs to create a more empowering perspective. | Transcending belief (a feeling that a thought is true) and desire (wanting a thought to be true) altogether by training in thinking and choosing clearly. |
| View of Beliefs | Beliefs are central—some limit you, others empower you. The goal is to replace limiting ones with supportive ones. | Beliefs and desires are shown to be constraints that distract from clear thinking and free choosing. |
| Primary Tools | Cognitive reframing, positive psychology, visualization, affirmations, and habit formation. | Logic and critical thinking tools to create awareness of options, and a space for free choosing. |
| Orientation | Future-oriented reframing of how clients interpret their life and challenges. | Present-oriented clearing: dismantling what clouds reasoning so one can clearly see options and act freely. |
| Energy Outcome | Builds confidence, reduces stress, improves motivation through new narratives. | Releases energy blocked by dismantling impediments to executive functioning. |
| Role of Coach | Guide who challenges self-talk, encourages growth mindset, and keeps clients accountable. | Mentor-trainer who provides philosophical “strength training” for whole-person autonomy. |
| Scope | Often focused on career, performance, or personal development goals. | Whole-person transformation: mind, body, moral resilience, and life direction. |
| Result | More adaptive mindset → improved outcomes within given frameworks. | Freedom from frameworks → the ability to generate new choices, new frameworks, and new futures. |
Conventional Life Coaching vs. Philosophit
| Life Coaching | Philosophit | |
| Core Focus | Helps clients clarify goals, remove obstacles, and build action plans for a better life. | Helps clients dissolve the beliefs and desires that create obstacles in the first place, so life becomes clear, energized, and open to better possibilities—better goals—than previously envisioned. Philosophit is the beginning, not the end, of improving future results. |
| View of Beliefs | Works to replace limiting beliefs with empowering ones to boost confidence. | Shows that all beliefs—empowering or limiting—tie up energy and restrict freedom. Instead of leaning on belief, Philosophit trains responsible retrieval and use of relevant information, so confidence and clarity come from reasoned independence. |
| Primary Tools | Goal-setting, visualization, accountability, motivational exercises. | Focus on Phitness uncovers hidden assumptions, freeing you to learn, choose and act without constraint. Motivation, the Life Athlete’s life energy, flows unimpeded. |
| Orientation | Future-oriented. Traditional Life Coaching asks: “Where do you want to be, and how do we get you there?” | Present-clearing for future success. Philosophit asks: “What mental junk can we remove from you now that is stopping you from creating your future?” |
| Energy Outcome | Builds motivation by giving structure and direction. | Releases blocked energy by removing inner constraints—clarity, motivation, and direction flow from the Life Athlete. |
| Role of Coach | Partner who supports, reflects, and keeps you accountable to your plans. | Trainer who strengthens your independence so you no longer need external accountability—you become your own guide. |
| Scope | Flexible: careers, relationships, health, or general satisfaction. | Directly strengthens autonomy in careers, relationships, health, and personal satisfaction—addressing these areas at their root by training clear thinking, free choosing, and energized living. |
| Result | Clearer goals and progress toward them. | Radical independence: clarity in thinking, freedom in choosing, and energized living and success beyond preconceived notions. Life Athletes report feeling rejuvenated, rid of fear, and effective. |
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Trauma Coaching vs. Philosophit
| Trauma Coaching | Philosophit | |
| Core Focus | Helps clients rebuild safety, resilience, and empowerment after traumatic experiences by working in the present and looking toward the future. | Trains the three Phitness skills—Clear Thinking, Free Choosing, and Energetic Implementation—so clients can live beyond trauma-shaped beliefs and frameworks and invent the life they truly want to live. |
| View of Beliefs | Trauma often embeds limiting beliefs and survival responses. Coaching supports clients in reframing and developing empowering beliefs. | Beliefs and desires—whether trauma-based or not—are constraints. Philosophit emphasizes responsible retrieval of relevant information and Phitness training, freeing clients from being bound by trauma or belief systems. |
| Primary Tools | Trauma-informed practices: grounding, resilience-building, self-regulation, boundary-setting, and reframing. | Phitness training: exercises in Clear Thinking, Free Choosing, and Energetic Implementation that dissolve constraints and energize life beyond trauma. Phitness skills to spot trauma habits and reframe present challenges. |
| Orientation | Healing-focused: “How can you move forward safely and confidently after trauma?” | Present-clearing: “Let’s strengthen your Phitness skills now, so you can see and create better futures beyond the given—including beyond trauma.” |
| Energy Outcome | Restores stability and resilience, reducing the draining effects of trauma responses. | Frees blocked energy immediately by clearing trauma-shaped constraints, enabling decisive, energized action across all areas of life. |
| Role of Coach | Supportive guide who provides tools and safety while walking alongside the client’s recovery. | Mentor-trainer who develops Phitness skills, ensuring clients become self-governing and energized beyond dependence on trauma narratives. |
| Scope | Specialized—focused on navigating and recovering from trauma. | Broad—addresses trauma as one kind of constraint, but also empowers autonomy across careers, relationships, health, and fulfillment. |
| Result | Greater resilience, empowerment, and ability to move forward with confidence. | Radical independence: clarity in thinking, freedom in choosing, and energized living and success beyond imagined outcomes. Creation of a new identity, beyond trauma definitions. |
Conventional Development Coaching vs. Philosophit
| Developmental Coaching | Philosophit | |
| Core Focus | Supports clients through stages of growth and life transitions, helping them adapt, mature, and integrate experiences. | Trains clients in the three Phitness skills—so they can live beyond stages and frameworks altogether and invent the life they truly want to live. Mature Life Athletes report feeling young again. Life Architect Life Athletes report feeling emboldened and empowered. |
| View of Beliefs | Beliefs and values are explored as part of evolving meaning-making systems; shifts in belief indicate developmental progress. | Beliefs and desires are constraints. Philosophit emphasizes responsible retrieval of relevant information and trains Phitness skills so clients can act effectively on that information. |
| Primary Tools | Developmental models (e.g., adult stage theories), reflective dialogue, perspective broadening, and support during transitions. | Phitness training: exercises in Clear Thinking, Free Choosing, and Energetic Implementation that strengthen autonomy at the root. |
| Orientation | Long-term trajectory: “Where are you in your developmental journey, and what’s the next stage of growth?” | Present-clearing: strengthen your Phitness skills now, so you can see and create better futures beyond the given. |
| Energy Outcome | Builds resilience and adaptability by preparing clients for the next stage of development. | Frees blocked energy immediately: clear thought, free choice, and decisive, energized action in every area of life. |
| Role of Coach | Guide and companion who helps clients navigate their developmental path with empathy and context. | Mentor-trainer who develops Phitness skills, ensuring clients become self-governing and energized beyond reliance on stages or frameworks. |
| Scope | Broad life challenges—career shifts, identity changes, midlife transitions, personal evolution. | Directly addresses careers, relationships, health, and fulfillment at their root through Phitness skills that empower whole-person transformation. |
| Result | Greater maturity, perspective, and adaptation within recognized stages of development. | Radical independence: clarity in thinking, freedom in choosing, and energized living and success beyond imagined outcomes. |
Performance Coaching vs. Philosophit
| Performance Coaching | Philosophit | |
| Core Focus | Improves specific skills, behaviors, and outcomes to raise effectiveness in work, sports, or other measurable domains. | Trains the three Phitness skills—Clear Thinking, Free Choosing, and Energetic Implementation—so clients can live beyond performance metrics and invent the life they want to live. |
| View of Beliefs | Beliefs are often adjusted to build confidence and motivation, supporting better performance within existing structures. | Beliefs and desires act as constraints. Philosophit emphasizes responsible retrieval of relevant information and develops Phitness skills so freedom and energy come from reasoned independence, not belief. |
| Primary Tools | Goal-setting, feedback, targeted practice, metrics, and accountability to track progress and outcomes. | Phitness training: exercises in Clear Thinking, Free Choosing, and Energetic Implementation that clear inner obstacles and energize action. Metrics improve naturally as a byproduct of the practice. |
| Orientation | Task-focused: “How can you perform better at what’s in front of you?” | Present-clearing: “Let’s strengthen your Phitness skills now, so you can see and create better futures beyond the given.” |
| Energy Outcome | Boosts focus, motivation, and measurable results in defined areas. | Frees blocked energy immediately by clearing constraints, enabling decisive, energized action in every area of life—not just performance. |
| Role of Coach | Trainer who builds targeted skills, reinforces accountability, and measures success against goals. | Mentor-trainer who strengthens autonomy, ensuring clients become self-governing and energized beyond external metrics. |
| Scope | Narrow—focused on performance in work, sport, or other measurable contexts. | Broad—directly strengthens autonomy in careers, relationships, health, and fulfillment through Phitness skills. |
| Result | Improved skills and higher achievement within existing roles and structures. | Radical independence: clarity in thinking, freedom in choosing, and energized living and success beyond imagined outcomes. |
Conventional Leadership Coaching vs. Philosophit
| Leadership Coaching | Philosophit | |
| Core Focus | Enhancing leadership skills: communication, emotional intelligence, team-building, and vision-setting. | Unlock leadership skills by strengthening Phitness. Unparalleled emotional intelligence, team building and vision setting are innate potentials of a Phit person. |
| View of Beliefs | Beliefs and values guide leadership style; coaches often help leaders align with them. | Phitness training allows the Life Athlete to determine values and leadership styles. The Phit Life Athlete grows into these roles and values as part of their evolving Phitness. |
| Primary Tools | Feedback, 360° assessments, communication training, emotional intelligence exercises. | We train Life Athletes to be agile in evaluating feedback and to distinguish the role of a leader from that of a follower. Phitness skills allow the Life Athlete to continuously evolve and grow in light of new information. Growth is ongoing, not tied to the period of coaching. |
| Orientation | Role- and team-focused: “How can you lead others more effectively?” | Person-focused: “Let’s clear the blocks so you can act freely and lead authentically.” |
| Energy Outcome | Builds confidence, empathy, and resilience within existing structures. | Releases blocked energy by removing constraints, producing energized action beyond roles and structures. |
| Role of Coach | Supportive partner who develops leadership capacity through reflection and feedback. | Supportive trainer who strengthens autonomy and energizes the whole person, who can then spontaneously be a leader. |
| Scope | Leadership in organizations, communities, or teams. | Whole-person transformation that naturally empowers leadership across all domains of life. |
| Result | Stronger leadership skills, better team outcomes, more effective influence. | Radical autonomy and energized presence that makes leadership a natural extension of who you are. |
Real Stories. Real Transformation.
Hear from those who have transformed their lives through working with our founder, Dr. Shyam.
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With Dr. Shyam’s teaching I have to acquired the tools to increase in my own physical and mental well- being. It has been a game changer for me!
Tara Harms
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Dr. Shyam is a phenomenal teacher who enthusiastically shares his knowledge. Since learning from him, I have found myself applying the knowledge in real time to both solve problems and to recommit to my practice.
Alena Goldstein
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Before delving Dr. Shyam, I struggled with rigid financial decisions, often clinging to outdated plans. The Phitness skills I learned from him are helping me create prosperity and freedom for myself and those I care about. With his help you learn how not to be an obstacle to your own success.
Philippe Alexis
Read the Philosophit Blog
Find out more about how Phitness can change your life for the better from Dr. Shyam’s Philosophit Blog.
Where Living Philosophy Meets Personal Power
Our Purpose
We bring ancient philosophical wisdom into your everyday life, so you can build a clear mind, a resilient spirit, and a life of your own design.
Our Mission
We empower thoughtful individuals to build clarity, autonomy, and whole-person strength through the practical application of Phitness skills.
Our Values
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Empowered Growth
Every stage of life holds potential for successful transformation -
Practical Wisdom
Timeless philosophy meets real-world tools
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Person Centered
Supportive spaces for reflection and connection -
Integrity & Trust
Honest, respectful guidance for your true growth
Looking for more insights to help you get started? Explore our resources, full of practical tips, tools, and wisdom to begin training your mind.
Dr. Shyam
Dr. Shyam Ranganathan (MA, PhD, Philosophy), founder of Philosophit™, is a down-to-earth coach and philosopher who helps people navigate life’s big changes with clarity, confidence, and purpose. Drawing on over 20 years of experience and timeless wisdom from Eastern and Western philosophy, he guides you to create space for transformation and truly thrive.