Bringing mindfulness to our corporate lives
How is mindfulness relevant to our corporate lives?
I expect you’ve heard the term mindfulness - it's a practice that's becoming more prevalent in business as leaders realise the impact our minds have on productivity.
Mindfulness is about noticing what is going on in your mind and being fully present.
Think about the wasted hours sat at your desk, getting distracted by e-mails popping up, colleagues talking to you, whatsapp notifications popping up on your phone, thinking about your plans after work. When the reality isyou could leave the office earlier if you were more productive.
Let’s do a quick test to see how mindful you are.
Pick one thing to focus on (an object is easiest). Set a timer for 45 seconds and focus on the object for that whole duration. If you notice your mind getting distracted by something else, gently bring your attention back to the object.
Lots of people think they do this well. More mindful people tend to notice distracting thoughts like these:
- are the 45 seconds nearly up yet
- what shall I have for lunch
- I’m doing a great job focussing
- this is easy
- must remember to buy mums birthday card
Etc
You’ll see it’s harder than it initially sounds to stay focussed. Random thoughts like this interrupt us throughout the day.
I read a study that found we are only productive <50% of the time. And that we get worse when we're at work!!
Your mind is a muscle and can be taught to focus. The outcomes of a regular mindfulness practice are:
- you exercise your mind and build new neural pathways
- it becomes easier to focus and also to bring back your attention when it wanders, making you more productive
- you have greater awareness how you are feeling - you can create a gap between noticing and reacting, which improves your impulse control
So all in all, very worthwhile.
If you know what’s going on inside your head, you can do something about it.
So before you walk into your next meeting, spend 45 seconds focussing on one thing. Even this short periodsharpens your mind and sets you up for success.
You can also download one of the apps like Headspace who have a free 3 minute per day practice you can try.
I’d love to hear what you think about mindfulness, hit reply and let me know.
Wishing you all the best
Kat
Kat Hutchings
Career Coach, Kat the Coach Ltd
kat@katthecoach.co.uk
P.S. I'm interested in anything that boosts productivity and think mindfulness practices are hugely relevant to companies future success. Try it out this week and let me know how you get on.
