It was another crazy day at the office when at 7.15 pm my phone rang for the 37th time – but this one was for a good reason; it was my mentor inviting me for one cup of tea together.
I was so overwhelmed that I decided to close everything and go and meet him.
- Good to see you, but don't you look a little upset? - he asked.
- I'm pressured, overloaded and overwhelmed!
- And how do you manage in this chaos?
- I respond as fast as I can; when things are coming up I try to take care of them as soon as possible.
- Is this working?
- I'm afraid not; things are coming up faster than I can handle...
- Maybe it’s a bad week; maybe next week, or next month you are going to have less to get done.
- Are you kidding me! Each and every month I have more things to do and each and every month I feel more and more overwhelmed; it’s exhausting!
- How do you plan to cope; you are more than 25 years away from retirement 😉
- Frankly I have no idea…
- What’s your biggest problem?
- I live in a world of continuous interruption; I cannot finish anything because something urgent arises all the time; everything is so tangled; there are loose ends everywhere that are keeping me entangled all the time!
How about focusing on the task at hand and get it done; maybe you should train your mind to focus at one thing at a time.
This endless multitasking deprives your ability to focus.
Your results are not proportional to the time you’re putting on, but to your focused time and energy!
Think about solar energy; it could hardly warm the palm of your hand on a winter day; but focus it by a magnifying glass and you can burn a nice hall through your business card…
…and the same amount of energy focused on a laser beam can cut through steel; can you understand now what the power of focus is?
That's amazing! Do you mean that by focusing my mind I can become more productive?
Not only more productive but less stressed and much happier too!
What do you mean by focusing my mind?
It’s about becoming aware where your mind and your attention are; it’s about becoming more mindful!
Mindfulness is like riding a bike. It may seem difficult at the beginning, but with practice it can become second nature to you.
You can call it meta-attention if you like; it’s paying attention where your attention is right now.
Research made by psychologists Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert of Harvard University found out that people spend 46.9 percent of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they’re doing, and this mind-wandering typically makes them unhappy. As they put it:
“A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind”
How often do you think about family matters when you are working and how often do you think about work when you are with your family?
Mindfulness is about getting out of that gray zone of mediocrity and becoming present.
Staying in the gray zone means mediocrity at work, mediocrity at relations and mediocrity with our family!
That sounds good; how can I train my mind so I can be more present?
It takes some practice but you can see results with 10’ a day; even with 3’ minutes a day.
Let’s do a small exercise right here right now.
Sit comfortable with you back straight, close your eyes and focus on your breath. Just observe your breath how it goes in and out through your nostrils, and count each out breath:
- Inhale – exhale – 1
- Inhale – exhale – 2
- ……
Count up to 10 and then back from 10 to 1; it should take you less than 3’
Of course you will notice that your mind is wondering; that’s perfectly ok!
But every time you realize that your mind is wondering, guide your attention gently back to your breath. Each and every time that you realize that your attention has gone away from your breath and you are bringing it back you are exercising your focus muscle!
Think again about that bike; in the beginning you couldn’t go straight because you were almost always out of balance.
But the more you were practicing the subtler adjustments you had to make; you realized early that you were getting out of balance and you adjusted accordingly.
The same goes with your mindfulness practice; the more you practice the sooner you will notice that your mind has gone out of focus.
Remember:
A focused mind is unstoppable; it cuts through like a laser.
When you take this skill and apply it at work you are going to have epic results
- When you are writing an email focus your mind on the email and block anything else out.
- When you are talking on the phone be present for the person on the other site of the line.
- When you are speaking to a colleague be present and give your full attention to your colleague – don’t waste each other’s time!
Being more mindful @ work means being more productive and more happy
Our tea time is running out; you can use our conversation to gain informationor to create transformation. It’s like the choice in the movie “The Matrix” between taking the red pill or the blue pill.
I'm making exactly the same offer to you right know.
The blue pill seems comfortable; you may feel excited about what you've just learned but in a couple of days you’ll forget everything and you’ll return where you are right now – pressured, overwhelmed and unhappy.
The red pill on the other hand is creating the change in your life by giving mindfulness a chance.
Start by focusing on your breath for just 3’ each day
Become more mindful and focus at one thing at a time just for the first 30' at the office and pay a little more attention... just pay a little more attention!
I took the red pill… how about you; which one would you take?
