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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Ratgeber
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014
Master your mind, manage stress and boost your productivity! Mindfulness at Work For Dummies provides essential guidance for employees at all levels of an organization who are seeking more focus and clarity in their work. It explains how mindfulness can help employers wishing to implement mindful practices into the workplace, and provides leaders and mentors within an organization with the tools they need to become more effective leaders and coaches. The audio download contains guided mindfulness exercises and meditations suited to workplace scenarios, a core feature of mindfulness programmes. Mindfulness at Work For Dummies includes: * An introduction to mindfulness, and how it can help improve working behaviour * An explanation of how the brain retains new mindful working patterns... with a bit of practice! * Useful tips on incorporating mindfulness into your working day * How organisations can benefit from implementing mindful approaches to work * Guidance for leaders on how mindfulness can help develop their leadership qualities
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Mindfulness at Work For Dummies®
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ISBN 978-1-118-72799-7 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-118-72797-3 (ebk) ISBN 978-1-118-72790-4 (ebk)
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Mindfulness at Work For Dummies
Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/mindfulnessatworkuk to view this book's cheat sheet.
Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I: Getting Started with Mindfulness at Work
Chapter 1: Exploring Mindfulness in the Workplace
Becoming More Mindful at Work
Clarifying what mindfulness is
Taking a look at the background
Recognising what mindfulness isn’t
Finding Out Why Your Brain Needs Mindfulness
Evolving from lizard to spaceman
Discovering your brain’s hidden rules
Recognising that you are what you think
Exploring your brain at work
Starting Your Mindful Journey
Being mindful at work yourself
Overcoming common challenges
Creating a mindful workplace
Living the dream: Mindfulness at work
Chapter 2: Exploring the Benefits of Mindfulness in the Workplace
Discovering the Benefits for Employees
Increased mental resilience
Improved relationships
Honed mental clarity and focus
Mindful leadership
Looking at the Organisational Benefits of Mindfulness
Happier, more engaged employees
Greater creativity
Increased productivity
Improved decision making
Reducing staff turnover
Chapter 3: Applying Mindfulness in the Workplace
Gaining Perspective in the Modern-Day Workplace
Engaging with a VUCA world
Applying mindfulness in changing times
Employing mindfulness for new ways of working
Building resilience
Adjusting Your Mental Mindset
Focusing on the present moment
Treating thoughts as mental processes
Approaching rather than avoiding difficulties
Rewiring Your Brain
Getting to grips with the science of mindfulness
Resculpting your brain to make you more productive at work
Using mindfulness to increase your present-moment circuitry
Developing Mindfulness at Work
Examining intentions and attitudes
Remembering that practice makes perfect
Experimenting with mindfulness in the workplace lab
Acting ethically for the organisation and its people
Living life mindfully
Part II: Working with Mindfulness
Chapter 4: Practising Mindfulness Day to Day
Starting the Day Mindfully
Making time for mindfulness
Integrating mindfulness into your morning routine
Travelling Mindfully
Driving with intent
Thinking about trains, planes and mindfulness
Walking mindfully
Taking Mindful Pauses
Pausing at your desk
Enjoying water cooler moments
Waking up and smelling the coffee
Ending Your Day Mindfully
Managing energy and sleep
Following a mindful evening routine
Using mindful exercises
Appreciating the good
Chapter 5: Boosting your Mental Resilience
Recognising the Need for Resilience at Work
The modern day stress epidemic
Understanding fight or flight
Mindful Working to Enhance Resilience
Managing multiple, conflicting demands
Grouping tasks
Dealing with distractions
Mindfully managing your emotions
Trying the ‘Managing emotions mindfully’ exercise
Dealing with difficult people
Mindful Ways to Maintain Peak Performance
Maintaining peak performance
Using mindfulness to enhance productivity
Being in the moment
Being Kind to Yourself
Discovering the Neuroscience of Kindness and compassion
Rewiring your brain
Last, but by no means least . . .
Chapter 6: Discovering Mindfulness At Work Training
Introducing MAWT
Getting ready
Identifying the outcomes you desire
Considering alternatives to self-study
MAWT Part 1: Core Training
Preparing for MAWT
Week 1: Understanding mindfulness at work
Week 2: Working with the body in mind
Chapter 7: Applying Mindfulness At Work Training
Continuing Your Mindfulness at Work Training (MAWT)
Week 3: Mindful communication at work
Week 4: Mindfully working with difficult people and strong emotions
Week 5: Mindful working in times of change
Post-Course Summary
Chapter 8: Practising Mindfulness in the Digital Age
Choosing When to Use Technology
Recognising the pros and cons of technology
Rebalancing your use of technology
Communicating Mindfully
Emailing mindfully
Phoning mindfully
Using a smart phone mindfully
Engaging with social media mindfully
Writing mindfully
Using Technology Mindfully
Focusing on one task
Discovering technology that enhances focus
Part III: Mindfulness for Organisations
Chapter 9: Improving Team Performance with Mindfulness
Identifying and Harnessing Team Dynamics
Understanding team dynamics
Managing team dynamics mindfully
Improving Team Performance
Recognising what’s important
Introducing Mindfulness to Your Team
Keeping your eye on the goal
Staying focused using mindfulness
Enhancing Internal and External Business Relationships
Becoming mindfully ready for anything
Being in the meeting
Boosting Team Morale
Improving morale with mindfulness
Focusing team effort with mindfulness
Improving team relationships with mindfulness
Chapter 10: Using Mindfulness to Assist Different Business Functions
Mindfulness for Human Resources
Managing downsizing and redundancies mindfully
Dealing with discipline and grievances mindfully
Increasing employee engagement
Applying some techniques
Mindfulness for Occupational Health
Improving staff well-being with mindfulness
Tackling stress with mindfulness
Reducing sickness absence with mindfulness
Mindfulness for Learning and Organisational Development
Improving learning with mindfulness
Introducing mindful practices into the workplace
Mindfulness for Service Delivery and Customer Service
Maintaining customer focus
Dealing with customer feedback mindfully
Communicating mindfully with customers
Mindfulness for Marketing and PR
Communicating powerfully
Keeping in tune with consumer and cultural trends
Improving responsiveness
Chapter 11: Integrating Mindfulness with Coaching
Discovering Mindful Coaching
Seeing mindfulness as a coaching toolbox
Applying mindfulness in coaching
Introducing Practical Ways to Integrate Mindfulness into Coaching
Increasing insight and clarity
Overcoming self-doubt
Coaching Team Members in Being Mindful
Integrating mindfulness into your team coaching
Overcoming barriers to mindfulness
Rolling Out Mindfulness through Coaching
Dealing with individuals
Working with teams
Involving the whole organisation
Chapter 12: Commissioning Mindfulness Training in the Workplace
Bringing Mindfulness Training to Work
Starting with the end in mind
Choosing from the menu of possibilities
Building in evaluation
Considering options for introductions and pilots
Taking care of the practicalities
Working in partnership and managing expectations
Identifying follow-up strategies
Making Sense of the Different Approaches to Teaching Workplace Mindfulness
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Mindfulness At Work Training (MAWT)
Search Inside Yourself (SIY)
Hiring an Experienced Mindfulness Practitioner
Checking out credentials
Clarifying organisational experience
Judging compatibility
Agreeing on what’s possible
Hiring a Mindfulness Coach
Identifying the benefits of mindfulness coaching
Choosing the right coach
Mindfulness Pilot Checklist
Part IV: Leading with Mindfulness
Chapter 13: Thriving on the Challenges of Leadership
Thriving Rather Than Surviving
Three ways to lead and thrive
Being a More Mindful Leader
Authentic leadership
Resonant leadership
Mindful leadership
Practising Mindful Leadership
Creating a positive and inspiring workplace culture
Coping with Stress and Pressure by Building Resilience
Maintaining peak performance
Implementing mindful strategies for rejuvenation
Chapter 14: Leading without Boundaries
Creating the Space to Lead
Seeing the bigger picture
Making time to be yourself
Being good to yourself
Managing your time and energy
Enhancing Leadership Creativity
Thinking without boundaries
Tapping into your intuition
Managing Complexity with Simplicity
Recognising that the past is history and tomorrow is a mystery
Working mindfully with your brain
Maintaining clarity and focus
Chapter 15: Leading People, Change and Strategy
Leading Mindfully when Change is the Norm
Meeting modern-day challenges with mindful solutions
Developing new change strategies
Embedding change individually and organisationally
Creating Strategies that Allow the Organisation to Flourish
Identifying organisational culture
Creating a collective vision for the future
Developing strategies mindfully
Embedding new values and behaviours
Creating a More Mindful Organisation
Remembering that looking beyond the bottom line is good for the bottom line
The Return On Investment (ROI) of mindfulness
Mindfully improving employee engagement and retention
Part V: The Part of Tens
Chapter 16: Ten Ways to Be More Mindful at Work
Be Consciously Present
Use Short Mindful Exercises at Work
Be a Single-Tasker
Use Mindful Reminders
Slow Down To Speed Up
Make Stress Your Friend
Feel Gratitude
Cultivate Humility
Accept What You Can’t Change
Adopt a Growth Mindset
Chapter 17: Ten Ways to Improve Your Brain with Mindfulness
Increase the Strength of Your Brain
Alter the Structure of Your Brain
Improve Your Ability to Learn
Gain More Cognitive Control
Improve Your Health and Well-Being without Going to the Gym!
Live Life with Less Fear
Make Yourself Happier
Regulate Your Emotions More Effectively
Improve Your Life without Even Trying
Improve Your Attention Span
Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Mindfully Manage Work Pressures
Mindfully Coping with Inappropriate Work Demands
Mindfully Dealing with a Lack of Control over Your Work
Mindfully Managing a Lack of, or Inappropriate, Support
Mindfully Managing Difficult Working Relationships
Mindfully Gaining Clarity about Your Job Role
Mindfully Navigating the Bumpy Road of Frequent Organisational Change
Mindfully Dealing with Difficult One-to-One Meetings
Mindfully Coping with the Threat of Redundancy
Mindfully Coping with Redundancy Survivor Syndrome
Using Mindfulness to Reduce Stress
Chapter 19: Ten Ways to be Mindful in a Minute
Start Your Day with an Energising, Mindful Shower
Begin with a Mindful Moment
Enjoy a Mindful Coffee
Use your Phone to Become More Mindful
Eat Lunch Mindfully
Be Mindful of Sounds
Appreciate the Good
Notice the Interplay between Your Thoughts, Emotions and Physiology
Become More Body Aware
Move Mindfully
Chapter 20: About Ten Resources for Further Study
Whizzing through Websites
Mindfulnet.org
Mindful.org
ShamashAlidina.com
Benefitting from Books
MBSR
MBCT
Other books worth a read
Practising with Audios
Reading Up on the Research
Accessing Apps
Locating Training Providers
Mindfulness at Work Training
The Mindfulness Exchange
Mindfulness Works
Identifying Universities and Management Schools Utilising Mindfulness
Reflecting on Retreats
Training to be a Mindfulness Teacher
Part VI: The Appendixes
Appendix A: Answers to Learning Check Questions
Week 1 Learning Check
Week 2 Learning Check
Appendix B: Summary of Research
About the Authors
Cheat Sheet
More Dummies Products
Guide
Table of Contents
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Introduction
Mindfulness is a mental discipline and way of being that has been practiced for thousands of years. Modern science has researched mindfulness as a secular practice and discovered its tremendous power-creating positive changes in the brain that have never been seen before in brain scans.
Mindfulness was initially used in medical settings in the late 1970s. In the decades that followed, the use of mindfulness throughout western society began to rapidly increase. Nowadays, hundreds of corporate organisations, from Google to General Mills, use mindfulness to help their employees boost their resilience, productivity, emotional intelligence, focus or even just to make them feel happier!
This book, Mindfulness at Work For Dummies, offers an accessible and fairly comprehensive look at the ways of bringing greater mindfulness into the workplace setting, whatever your motivation.
This book is for anyone with any sort of role in the workplace. Employees, small business owners, managers and corporate executives and leaders will find practical application from this book, we hope. We even explore mindful leadership in some depth, a leadership theory that’s now taught in the finest business schools in the world.
We wrote this book because we’re passionate about mindfulness! Having practiced mindfulness both in our personal and professional lives, we can see the massive positive benefits of a workforce that is trained to use mindfulness – greater creativity, improved communication and higher levels of productivity and wellbeing.
We also feel mindfulness can help manage the negative consequences of the demanding modern workplace environment. High levels of pressure, tight deadlines and overly demanding managers can take their toll on the toughest individuals. With stress now one of the leading causes of absence from work according to the World Health Organization, the need to find ways of building mental resilience is huge. We like to think that mindfulness offers a powerful way of raising resilience in the workplace setting, and the science agrees.
With hundreds of organisations, big and small, now offering mindfulness at work, this book offers a systematic and evidence-based way to integrate mindfulness in the workplace. We tried to simplify the concepts without losing their subtle essence, and include lots of exercises for everyone to try out, from the boardroom to the shop floor. We hope Mindfulness at Work For Dummies will offer something for you too – and offers you a fresh approach to your work.
About This Book
Mindfulness at Work For Dummies provides you with practical techniques to integrate mindfulness into the workplace. Each chapter is jam packed with insights about the art of mindfulness, how to be mindful quickly and easily, and how to work with mindful awareness. This book has been written for beginners to the idea of mindfulness and those looking for ways to introduce mindfulness into their organisation in a scientifically proven way.
This book comes with access to downloadable mindfulness exercises designed specifically for the workplace. The audio is in MP3 format so you can listen on your computer, phone, MP3 player or burn onto a CD for your personal use.
Within this book, you may note that some Web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these Web pages, simply key in the Web address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this as an e-book, you’ve got it easy – just click the Web address to be taken directly to the Web page.
Foolish Assumptions
In writing this book, we made a few assumptions about who you are:
You work on a regular basis, or are actively seeking work.You are looking for an approach to improve you and your staff’s success in the workplace.You want be more mindful at work, but don’t know where to start.You are willing to try the various mindfulness exercises and strategies we have suggested several times before judging if they could work for you or your staff.You’re looking for long-term ways of improving your effectiveness in the workplace rather that just a quick fix.Beyond those, we’ve not assumed too much, we hope. This book is for you whether you’re male or female, eighteen upwards.
Icons Used in This Book
Scattered through the book you’ll see various icons to guide you on your way. Icons are a For Dummies way of drawing your attention to important stuff, interesting stuff, and stuff you really need to know not to do.
This icon indicates an activity that’s specifically tied in to the Mindfulness At Work Training (MAWT) you can find in Chapters 6 and 7.
Shoot over to www.dummies.com/go/mindfulnessatworkuk and download the audio that goes along with this book.
This is stuff you need to know: whatever else you carry away from this book, note these bits with care.
Look out for these icons if you like science and want to learn about the evidence behind the mindfulness exercises and approaches.
Handy tidbits to help you get you nice and mindful at work.
An activity for you to try out for yourself.
Beyond the Book
We offer further resources that go with this book. Firstly, visit http://mawt.co.uk – register your email to get free resources, links to recommended videos and access to research material mentioned in this book. Also, visit that website if you’d like to get in touch with us about our own trainings.
In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this book comes with some access-anywhere content on the Web. Check out the free Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/mindfulnessatworkuk.
We also specially recorded a set of guided mindfulness exercises for you to use along with this book. You can download the content whenever you wish. Go to www.dummies.com/go/mindfulnessatworkuk to access the guided mindfulness audio.
Where to Go from Here
We’ve compiled this book so that you can dip in and out as you please. We invite you to make good use of the Table of Contents (or the index) and jump straight into the section you fancy. You’re in charge and it’s up to you. If you’re a total beginner to mindfulness, or not sure where to start, begin with Part I and you’ll have a better idea how to proceed.
We wish you all the best in your quest to be mindful or to bring mindfulness to others at work, and hope you find something of use within these pages.
Part I
Getting Started with Mindfulness at Work
For Dummies can help you get started with a huge range of subjects. Visit www.dummies.com to learn more and do more with For Dummies.
In this part . . .
Find out exactly what mindfulness is – and isn’t.Discover the genuine impact that practising mindfulness can have on your brain.Understand the real benefits that mindfulness can bring to both individuals and organisations.Begin your mindfulness at work journey.Develop a sense of perspective in the workplace.Chapter 1
Exploring Mindfulness in the Workplace
In This Chapter
Identifying what mindfulness is and is not
Retraining your brain
Getting started
In tough economic times, many organisations are looking for new ways to deliver better products and services to customers while simultaneously reducing costs. Carrying on as normal is not isn’t an option. Organisations are looking for sustainable ways to be more innovative. Leaders must really engage staff, and everyone needs to become more resilient in the face of ongoing change. For these reasons, more and more organisations are offering staff training in mindfulness.
Major corporations in the USA, like General Mills, and major employers in the UK, such as the National Health Service, have offered staff mindfulness training in recent years. Google and eBay are among the many companies that now provide rooms for staff to practise mindfulness in work time. Business schools including Harvard Business School in the USA and Ashridge Business School in the UK now include mindfulness principles in their leadership programmes.
So what is mindfulness, and why are so many leading organisations investing in it?
Becoming More Mindful at Work
In this section you will discover what mindfulness is. More importantly, you’ll also discover what mindfulness is not! You’ll find out how mindfulness evolved and why it’s become so important in the modern day workplace.
Clarifying what mindfulness is
Have you ever driven somewhere and arrived at your destination remembering nothing about your journey? Or grabbed a snack and noticed a few moments later that all you have left is an empty packet? Most people have! These examples are common ones of ‘mindlessness’, or ‘going on automatic pilot’.
Like many humans, you’re probably ‘not present’ for much of your own life. You may fail to notice the good things in your life or hear what your body is telling you. You probably also make your life harder than it needs to be by poisoning yourself with toxic self-criticism.
Mindfulness can help you to become more aware of your thoughts, feelings and sensations in a way that suspends judgement and self-criticism. Developing the ability to pay attention to and see clearly whatever is happening moment by moment does not eliminate life’s pressures, but it can help you respond to them in a more productive, calmer manner.
Learning and practising mindfulness can help you to recognise and step away from habitual, often unconscious emotional and physiological reactions to everyday events. Practising mindfulness allows you to be fully present in your life and work and improves your quality of life.
Mindfulness can help you to:
Recognise, slow down or stop automatic and habitual reactionsRespond more effectively to complex or difficult situationsSee situations with greater focus and clarityBecome more creativeAchieve balance and resilience at both work and homeMindfulness at work is all about developing awareness of thoughts, emotions and physiology and how they interact with one another. Mindfulness is also about being aware of your surroundings, helping you better understand the needs of those around you.Mindfulness training is like going to the gym. In the same way as training a muscle, you can train your brain to direct your attention to where you want it to be. In simple terms, mindfulness is all about managing your mind.
Taking a look at the background
Mindfulness has its origins in ancient Eastern meditation practices. Jon Kabat-Zinn developed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in the USA in the late 1970s, which became the foundation for modern-day mindfulness. Figure 1-1 shows how it developed.
Figure 1-1: Mindfulness timeline.
In the 1990s Mark Williams, John Teasdale and Zindel Segal further developed MBSR to help people suffering from depression. Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) combined cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with mindfulness. In 2004, MBCT was clinically approved in the UK by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) as a ‘treatment of choice’ for recurrent depression.
Since the late 1970s, research into the benefits of mindfulness has steadily increased. Recent studies have examined, for example, the impact of practising mindfulness on the immune system and its effects on those working in high pressure environments.
Advances in brain scanning technology have demonstrated that as little as eight weeks of mindfulness training can positively alter brain structures, including the amygdala (the fear centre) and the left prefrontal cortex (an area associated with happiness and well-being). Other studies show benefits in even shorter periods of time.
Busy leaders who practise mindfulness have long extolled its virtues, but little research has existed to back up their claims. Fortunately, researchers are now increasingly focusing their attention on the benefits of mindfulness from a workplace perspective.
MBSR and MBCT are taught using a standard eight-week curriculum, and all teachers follow a formalised development route. The core techniques are the same for both courses. Most workplace mindfulness courses are based around MBCT or MBSR, but tailored to meet the needs of the workplace.
Although MBSR and MBCT were first developed to help treat a range of physical and mental health conditions, new applications for the techniques have been established. Mindfulness is now being taught in schools and universities, and has even been introduced to prisoners. Many professional education programmes, such as MBAs, now include mindfulness training.
Researchers have linked the practice of mindfulness to skills that are highly valuable in the workplace. Research suggests that practising mindfulness can enhance:
Emotional intelligenceCreativity and innovationEmployee engagementInterpersonal relationshipsAbility to see the bigger pictureResilienceSelf-managementProblem solvingDecision makingFocus and concentrationIn addition, mindfulness is valuable in the workplace because it has a positive impact on immunity and general well-being. It has been demonstrated to relieve the symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. See www.mawt.co.uk for a list of some of the research papers on mindfulness at work.
ACT
In the late 1980s, research began by Steven Hayes and colleagues for another form training called Acceptance and Commitment Theraphy (ACT). ACT combines mindfulness and acceptance with action-based strategies. In the last few years, ACT has begun to been adapted to meet the modern workplace, sometimes called Acceptance and Commitment Training.
Recognising what mindfulness isn’t
Misleading myths about mindfulness abound. Here are a few:
Myth 1: ‘I will need to visit a Buddhist centre, go on a retreat or travel to the Far East to learn mindfulness.’
Experienced mindfulness instructors are operating all over the world. Many teachers now teach mindfulness to groups of staff in the workplace. One-to-one mindfulness teaching can be delivered in the office, in hotel meeting rooms or even via the web. Some people do attend retreats after learning mindfulness if they wish to deepen their knowledge, experience peace and quiet or gain further tuition, but doing so isn’t essential.
Myth 2: ‘Practising mindfulness will conflict with my religious beliefs.’
Mindfulness isn’t a religion. For example, MBSR, MBCT are entirely secular – as are most workplace programs. No religious belief of any kind is necessary. Mindfulness can help you step back from your mental noise and tune into your own innate wisdom. Mindfulness is practised by people of all faiths and by those with no spiritual beliefs. Practising mindfulness won’t turn you into a hemp-clad tofu eater, a tree-hugging hippie or a monk sitting on top of a mountain – unless you want to be one of these people, of course!
Myth 3: ‘I’m too busy to sit and be quiet for any length of time.’
When you’re busy, the thought of sitting and ‘doing nothing’ may seem like the last thing you want to do. In 2010 researchers at Harvard University gathered evidence from a quarter of a million people suggesting that, on average, the mind wanders for 47 per cent of the working day. Just 15 minutes a day spent practising mindfulness can help you to become more productive and less distracted. Then you’ll be able to make the most of your busy day and get more done in less time. When you first start practising mindfulness, you’ll almost certainly experience mental distractions, but if you persevere you’ll find it easier to tune out distractions and to manage your mind. As time goes on, your ability to concentrate increases as does your sense of well-being and feeling of control over your life.
Myth 4: ‘Practising mindfulness will reduce my ambition and drive.’
Practising mindfulness can help you become more focused on your goals and better able to achieve them. It can help you become more creative and to gain new perspectives on life. If your approach to work is chaotic, mindfulness can make you more focused and centred, which in turn enables you to channel your energy more productively. Coupled with an improved sense of well-being, this ability to focus helps you achieve your career ambitions and goals.
Myth 5: ‘If I practise mindfulness, people will take me less seriously and my career prospects will be damaged.’
Some of the most successful and influential people in the world practise mindfulness. US Senator Tim Ryan, Goldie Hawn, Joanna Lumley and Ruby Wax are all keen advocates of mindfulness. Practising mindfulness doesn’t involve sitting cross-legged on the floor – an office chair is fine. If you find it impossible to sit quietly and focus because you work in an open-plan office, or you’re concerned about what others think, plenty of other everyday activities are available that can become opportunities to practise mindfulness that nobody will notice. Walking, eating, waiting for your computer to boot up or even exercising at the gym are all good opportunities to practise mindfulness. Mindfulness can be practising with your eyes open, whilst you’re moving around during the day.
Myth 6: ‘Mindfulness and meditation are one and the same. Mindfulness is just a trendy new name.’
Fact: Mindfulness often involves specific meditation practices. Fiction: All meditation is the same. Many popular forms of meditation are all about relaxation – leaving your troubles behind and imagining yourself in a calm and tranquil ‘special place’. Mindfulness helps you to find out how to live with your life in the present moment – warts and all – rather than run away from it. Mindfulness is about approaching life and things that you find difficult and exploring them with openness, rather than avoiding them. Most people find that practising mindfulness does help them to relax, but that this relaxation is a welcome by-product, not the objective!
Training your attention: the power of focus
Are you one of the millions of workers who routinely put in long hours, often for little or no extra pay? In the current climate of cutbacks, job losses and ‘business efficiencies’, many people feel the need to work longer hours just to keep on top of their workload. However, research shows that working longer hours does not mean that you get more done. Actually, if you continue to work when past your peak, your performance slackens off and continues to do so as time goes on (see Chapter 5).
Imagine your job is to chop logs. After a while, your axe needs sharpening and your muscles need resting. If you keep going, you’ll become very inefficient and are more likely to have an accident. By taking a break, and sharpening your axe, you can return to the job and get more done in less time. You’ll probably enjoy the job more too. Mindfulness practice is like taking that break – you both re-energise yourself and sharpen your mind, ready for your next activity.
Discovering how to focus and concentrate better is the key to maintaining peak performance. Recognising when you’ve slipped past peak performance and then taking steps to bring yourself back to peak is also vital. Mindfulness comes in at this point. Over time, it helps you focus your attention to where you want it to be.
Focusing your attention may sound easy, but try thinking of just one thing for 90 seconds. It could be an object on your desk, a specific sound or the sensation of your own breathing.
Focus your full attention on your chosen object, sound or sensation and nothing else. Then consider these questions:
Did you manage to focus your complete attention for the full 90 seconds, or did your mind wander and random thoughts arise?Did you become distracted by a bodily pain or ache?Did you find yourself getting annoyed with yourself, or annoyed with a sound such as a ticking clock or traffic?You’re not alone! Most people find this activity really difficult at first. In truth, you’re unlikely to ever be able to shut out all of your mental chatter, but you can turn the volume right down. Doing so enables you to see things more clearly, reduce time wasted on duplicated work and stop your mind wandering. Mindfulness offers you a way of getting more done in less time without burning yourself out.
Applying mindful attitudes
Practising mindfulness involves more than just training your brain to focus. It also teaches you some alternative mindful attitudes to life’s challenges. You discover the links between your thoughts, emotions and physiology. You find out that what’s important isn’t what happens to you, but how you choose to respond that matters. This statement may sound simple, but most people respond to situations based on their mental programming (past experiences and predictions of what will happen next). Practising mindfulness makes you more aware of how your thoughts, emotions and physiology impact on your responses to people and situations. This awareness then enables you to choose how to respond rather than reacting on auto-pilot. You may well find that you respond in a different manner.
By gaining a better understanding of your brain’s response to life events, you can use mindfulness techniques to reduce your ‘fight or flight’ response and regain your bodies ‘rest and relaxation’ state. You will see things more clearly and get more done.
Mindfulness also brings you face to face with your inner bully – the voice in your head that says you are not talented enough, not smart enough or not good enough. By learning to treat thoughts like these ones as ‘just mental processes and not facts’, the inner bully loses its grip on your life and you become free to reach your full potential.
These examples are just a few of the many ways that a mindful attitude can have a positive impact on your life and career prospects.
Finding Out Why Your Brain Needs Mindfulness
Recent advances in brain scanning technology are helping us to understand why our brain needs mindfulness. In this section you discover powerful things about your brain – its evolution, its hidden rules, how thoughts shape your brain structure and the basics of how your brain operates at work.
Your brain’s technical specifications
Size:
Around 1,300 grams – that’s over three times the size of a chimpanzee’s, our closest animal relative.The human brain accounts for 2 per cent of the body’s weight, but it uses around 20 per cent of its energy.Energy consumption:
A typical adult human brain runs on around 12 watts – a fifth of the power required by a standard 60 watt light bulb.Compared with most other organs, the brain is energy-hungry; but compared to man-made electronics, the brain is extremely efficient. IBM’s Watson supercomputer depends on 90 IBM Power 750 servers, each of which requires around 1,000 watts.Operating system:
Energy travels to the brain via blood vessels in the form of glucose.The brain contains billions of nerve cells that send and receive information around the body.The brain never sleeps! It provides instant access to information on demand.Performance:
Neurons (brain cells that process and transmit information through electrical and chemical signals) fire around 5 to 50 times a second (or faster).Signals cross your brain in a tenth or hundredth of a second.Evolving from lizard to spaceman
In order to understand how mindfulness works, you need to know some basics about the human brain. Over millions of years, the human brain has evolved to become the most sophisticated on the planet (see Figure 1-2).
Figure 1-2: Evolution of the human brain.
The oldest part of the brain is known as the reptilian brain. It controls your body’s vital functions such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature and balance. Your reptilian brain includes the main structures found in a reptile’s brain: the brainstem and the cerebellum.
The middle part of your brain is known as the limbic brain. It emerged in the first mammals. It records memories of behaviours that produced agreeable and disagreeable experiences for you. The limbic system is responsible for your emotions and value judgements. The reptilian brain and limbic system are quite rigid and inflexible in how they operate. We call these two areas the primitive brain.
The newest part of our brain consists is the neo-cortex. It has deep grooves and wrinkles that allow the surface area to increase far beyond what could otherwise fit in the same size skull. It accounts for around 85 per cent of the human brain’s total mass. Some say that the neo-cortex is what makes us human. The neo-cortex is responsible for your abstract thoughts, imagination and consciousness. For simplicity, we call it the ‘higher brain’. The higher brain is highly flexible and has an almost infinite ability to learn.
The primitive brain deals with routine tasks and needs little energy to operate quickly. The higher brain is incredibly powerful, but requires a lot of energy to run and operates more slowly than the primitive brain. These differences in the different parts of the brain explain why you often experience strong emotions or take action long before logic starts to kick in. It also explains the human tendency to work on auto-pilot (based on responses stored in the primitive brain) for much of the time.
Because you spend much of your time work on auto-pilot, you’re often unaware of your thoughts, emotions and physiology in the present moment. The short activity below is designed to help you recognise your routineresponses and how changing them just slightly can make you more aware of them.
Sit in a different chair from usual in a meeting, park in a different spot in the car park, sleep on the other side of the bed or use a different hand to write with.Observe your thoughts, emotions and bodily responses.Identify how you felt. Did you find changing your behaviour difficult? Did you feel awkward?Doing things differently can be hard because your mental programming is probably screaming, ‘You’ve got it wrong; that’s not how you do it.’ Carrying out an activity in a new way involves conscious thought, and thus engages your higher brain, which needs more energy to function. This explains why even small changes can feel difficult or uncomfortable.
Discovering your brain’s hidden rules
Imagine yourself as one of your ancient ancestors – a cave dweller. In ancient times you had to make life or death decisions every day. You had to decide whether it was best to approach a reward (such as killing a deer) or avoid a threat (such as a fierce predator charging at you). If you failed to gain your reward, in this example a deer to eat, you’d probably live to hunt another day. But, if you failed to avoid the threat, you’d be dead, never to hunt again.
As a result of facing these daily dangers, your brain has evolved to minimise threat. Unfortunately, this has led to the brain spending much more time looking for potential risks and problems than seeking rewards and embracing new opportunities. This tendency is called ‘the human negativity bias’.
Think of six bad things that have happened recently.Think of six good things that have happened recently.Identify which task you found easiest.Most people readily conjure up six bad things, but struggle to think of six good things. The bad things dominate because the brain is primed to expend more energy looking for potential threats (bad things) than looking for opportunities (good things).
When your brain detects a potential threat, it floods your system with powerful hormones designed to help you evade mortal danger. The sudden flood of dozens of hormones into your body results in your heart rate speeding up, blood pressure increasing, pupils dilating and veins in skin constricting to send more blood to major muscle groups to help you sprint away from danger. More oxygen is pumped into your lungs, and non-essential systems (such as digestion, the immune system and routine body repair and maintenance) shut down to provide more energy for emergency functions. Your brain starts to have trouble focusing on small tasks because it’s trying to maintain focus on the big picture to anticipate and avoid further threat.
Threat or risk avoidance is controlled by the primitive areas of your brain, which operate fast. This speed explains why, when you unexpectedly encounter a snake in the woods, your primitive brain decides on the best way to keep you safe from harm with no conscious thought and you jump out of the way long before your higher brain engages to find a rational solution.
This process is great from an evolutionary perspective, but can be bad news in modern-day life. Many people routinely overestimate the potential threat involved in everyday work such as a critical boss, a failed presentation or social humiliation. These modern-day ‘threats’ are treated by the brain in exactly the same way as your ancestor’s response to mortal danger. This ‘fight or flight’ response was designed to be used for short periods of time. Unfortunately, when under pressure at work it can remain activated for long periods of time. This activation can lead to poor concentration, inability to focus, low immunity and even serious illness.
Mindfulness training helps you to recognise when you’re in this heightened state of arousal and be able to reduce or even switch off the ‘fight or flight’ response. It also helps you develop the skill to trigger at will your ‘rest and relaxation’ response, bringing your body back to normal, allowing it to repair itself and increasing both your sense of well-being and ability to focus on work.
Recognising that you are what you think
For many years it was thought that once you reached a certain age your brain became fixed. We now know that the adult brain retains impressive powers of ‘neuroplasticity’; that is, the ability to change its structure and function in response to experience. It was also believed that, if you damaged certain areas of the brain (as a result of a stroke or other brain injury), you’d no longer be capable of performing certain brain functions. We now know that in some cases the brain can re-wire itself and train a different area to undertake the functions that the damaged part previously carried out. The brain’s hard wiring (neural pathways) change constantly in response to thoughts and experiences.
Neuroplasticity offers amazing opportunities to re-invent yourself and change the way you do and think about things. Your unique brain wiring is a result of your thoughts and experiences in life. Blaming your genes or upbringing; saying ‘it’s not my fault, that’s how I was born’ isn’t no longer a good excuse!
In order to take advantage of this knowledge, you need to develop awareness of your thoughts, and the impact that these thoughts have on your emotions and physiology. The problem is that, if you’re like most people, you’re probably rarely aware of the majority of your thoughts. Let’s face it; you’d be exhausted if you were! Mindfulness helps you to develop the ability to passively observe your thoughts as mental processes. In turn, this allows you to observe patterns of thought and decide whether these patterns are appropriate and serve you well. If you decide that they’re not, your awareness of them gives you the opportunity to replace them with better ways of thinking and behaving.
For example, if you arrive at work and think ‘Oh no, I’ve got so much to do on my to-do list. I’m never going to get them all done! I’m so inefficient …’ and so on, your brain is on a negative thought stream. Mindfulness helps you to catch yourself doing that, and instead, simply and more calmly move your attention to the first priority on your list of things to do.
Another common problem you may encounter is that, although you may think that your decisions and actions are always based on present-moment facts, in reality they rarely are. Making decisions based on your brain’s prediction of the future (which is usually based on your past experiences and unique brain wiring) is common. In addition, you see with your brain; in other words, your brain acts as a filter to incoming information from the eyes and picks out what it thinks is important. The problem with all the above is that you routinely make decisions and act without full possession of the facts. What happened in the past will not necessarily happen now; your predictions about the future could be inaccurate, leading to inappropriate responses and actions.
So, going back to the above example of the long to-do list, if you’re mindful, you can choose to do what’s most important, rather than just automatically reacting to the last email that pings you.
Practising mindfulness helps you to see the bigger picture and make decisions based on present-moment facts rather than self-generated assumptions and fiction.
Here’s another example. When you’re under pressure, falling into a thought spiral, with one thought driving the next, is all too easy. In the process, you develop your own story of what’s going on around you, which can be wildly different from reality. For example, if you fail to get an invite to a meeting at work you think you should be at, your thoughts might follow this pattern:
Why haven’t they invited me?They obviously think that my team and I have nothing to contribute.Maybe they’re discussing redundancies.Maybe they haven’t invited me because they’re discussing making me redundant!At my age I’ll never get another job!How will I pay off the remainder of the mortgage?This may mean my son has to drop out of university.I’ll ruin my son’s life. I’m a dreadful father.I’m such a loser.In reality, the failure to invite you was an administrative error, but your mind has created a detailed story, which your brain has treated as reality. As a result your brain has triggered emotions (anger or fear), your body has become tense and your heart rate has speeded up. Your emotions and physiology have a further impact on your thoughts and behaviour, and so on.
Many people fall into this trap. Mindfulness helps you to notice when your thoughts begin to spiral and to take action to stop them spiralling down even further. You can observe what’s going on in the present moment, and separate present-moment facts from self-created fiction. This ability gives you choices and a world of new possibilities.
Think of a person or situation that triggers your primitive brain’s threat system. (Don’t pick anything too scary or threatening!)
Observe what’s going on in your head. Identify patterns of thoughts, as if you were a spectator observing from the outside. What is it specifically that has triggered your primitive brain?Acknowledge your emotional response without judgement or self-blame. Try to observe from a distance and see if you can reduce or prevent a strong emotional reaction by observing the interplay of your thoughts and emotions as if you were a bystander.Be kind to yourself. You’re human, and just responding according to your mental wiring. Observe both your thoughts and emotions as simply ‘mental processes’, without the need to respond to them. Regarding them as ‘thoughts not facts’ and being kind to yourself helps to encourage your primitive brain to let go of the steering wheel and allow your higher brain to become the driver once more.When developing new neural pathways, practice makes perfect. Changing your behaviour or learning to do something new takes awareness, intention, action and practice – no short cuts exist! Understanding a few simple facts about how your brain works and making small adjustments to your responses can help you to create new, more productive, neural pathways.
Exploring your brain at work
Before diving into more detail about mindfulness, and how it could be of benefit to your work, you need to discover a little more about how your brain processes everyday work tasks.
Let’s look at a real-life example. A friend of mine (Juliet) – let’s call her Jen – is a senior manager working within a police training organisation, where she is responsible for leading a team who develop doctrine (guidance and standards) for police forces across the UK. Her job description includes the following desirable characteristics:
Organisational skillsCommunication skillsAbility to manage conflicting prioritiesProblem-solving skillsDecision-making skillsRelationship building skillsAbility to manage changeOne of the most challenging aspects of Jen’s work is managing multiple, often conflicting, demands. As her role is national, she is responsible to multiple stakeholders working in different police forces and affiliate organisations across the UK. Problems sometimes arise when stakeholders think that their project is more important than other projects, and completion of that project by a certain date takes on an almost ‘life or death’ importance in their minds. This elevated importance is often compounded by senior stakeholders taking sides and applying pressure. When this situation arises, Jen uses negotiation skills to try to resolve the issue. She gives the stakeholders a reality check, often along the lines of, ‘If I prioritise this, then I can’t do that’ or ‘If I do this first, that will be late’.
At times like these, Jen notices her body tensing. She sometimes wakes at 2 a.m. trying to find a solution that resolves the conflict for all concerned. Emotionally she sometimes experiences irritation and frustration at the inability of others to see the bigger picture. Her thoughts run along the following lines: ‘Either I’m not explaining it right or they’re being obtuse’; ‘We’re all supposed to be professionals, why can’t they behave as such?’; ‘No one will die if we’re a few days late with this project’; ‘Why are they acting so selfishly?’
What Jen is unaware of is the impact of one of the foundations of mindfulness training: non-judgemental observation of the interplay between her thoughts, emotions and physiology. Her thoughts are triggering emotions, which are triggering a bodily response. Her bodily response (which she is largely unaware of) is having a tangible impact on her thoughts and decisions. Although she thinks that she’s fully rational and in control when making decisions, in reality her emotions are also impacting on her thoughts. If Jen was practising mindfulness, she’d be much more aware of what’s going on, and able to choose alternative strategies that were better for her well-being and that may lead to wiser decisions.
Despite the fact that Jen is an experienced leader, calm, organised and highly intelligent, her primitive brain has detected a possible threat to her social and professional status. Status – your place in the pecking order – is important to humans. Jen’s amygdala (part of the limbic system in her primitive brain) triggers a fight or flight response. Her primitive brain is now in charge. Hijacked by emotions, her higher brain becomes helpless. In an attempt to keep her safe from harm, her primitive brain hijacks the driver’s seat and she is reduced to being a passenger sitting in the back seat, hanging on for dear life. Jen is in this position because her primitive brain switches off her higher brain, including the prefrontal cortex (PFC), shown in Figure 1-3. This vital part of your brain plays a huge role in decision making. The prefrontal cortex allows you to plan ahead and create strategies, pay attention, learn and focus on goals.
Figure 1-3: Image of the brain showing the prefrontal cortex.
When finding out about mindfulness, you discover the interplay between your primitive brain’s desire to keep you safe from harm, and the impact of your sympathetic nervous system (which mobilises your parasympathetic fight-or-flight response) on both your body and ability to think clearly.
At times like this, Jen would benefit from a mindfulness exercise. She should focus her full attention on taking slow, deep breaths for a few minutes. Focusing her attention fully on the sensation of breathing will slow down or stop her mental chatter, which in turn will reduce the feeling of threat and trigger a lessening of her fight-or-flight response. In addition, her brain’s PFC will get the oxygen it needs to regain control, and her primitive brain will hand back control to her PFC.
Of course, the rational PFC can’t always prevent the primitive brain from engaging. This inability is because the primitive brain is more evolved and responds much more quickly than the highly powerful, but slower, less-evolved higher brain. Mindfulness does not stop your rational higher brain from getting hijacked by your primitive brain, but it does make you much more aware of what’s going on, much earlier. This awareness gives you choices in how to respond. You won’t be forced to unconsciously default to primitive brain auto-pilot responses and actions. You have a choice!
Now, we need to look at other elements of the brain that impact on Jen’s work and explore how mindfulness could be beneficial.
At times Jen feels as if she’s hitting a brick wall when she’s trying to find new solutions to old problems. When under pressure, defaulting to well-used, comfortable ways of doing things stored in the primitive brain is all too easy. Giving ‘stock’ answers to questions may result. Mindfulness teaches you the benefits of taking time out to calm your mind and centre yourself. Doing so can take as little as three minutes and can produce dramatic results. Allowing the brain to relax and let go of its frantic activity to solve the problem can deactivate the primitive brain’s grip, and allow the higher brain to apply creativity and innovation to the problem.
Jen often multi-tasks, flitting from one project to another and juggling project work with phone calls and emails as they arise. She often finds herself becoming tired and having difficulty concentrating. The ability to multi-task is a myth. Many research studies show that regular multi-taskers get less done than those who focus on one thing at a time – even the people that think they’re good at mulit-tasking. Multi-tasking actually means that the brain is switching backwards and forwards from task to task, which wastes a huge amount of valuable energy, and details are invariably lost with each switch. No wonder that Jen feels tired! She’s making her life much harder than it needs to be.
Mindfulness shows you how to mentally stand back and observe what’s going on around you and in your brain. It also helps you to develop different approaches to life that are kinder to you and usually more productive. Mindfulness helps you observe and reduce the mental chatter that distracts you from your work, allowing you to focus on it more fully. By intentionally taking steps to recognise and avoid distractions and focusing your full attention on one task at a time, you can get things done more quickly, with fewer mistakes and less repetition. Using mindfulness techniques when you feel your attention waning can help you to restart work feeling refreshed and focused.
