How to be more mindful at work
You don’t need to meditate for long hours or give up on your other tasks to be mindful and stay that way for the majority of the day. Now, work can be stressful when there’s a lot on your plate or you have other pressing issues that do not let you offer full focus to the tasks at hand at work. But there are ways you can inject mindful moments through the day and stay sane!
You are not an octopus. Opt to take up one task at a time
As much as multi-tasking seems like a genius and cool thing to do, it divides your attention and increases pressure. Good old single-tasking means you’re entire focus is on completing one task and so you naturally finish it efficiently and who knows, even quicker than you would if you were moving back and forth or juggling quite a few activities at the same time.
Reminders to be mindful
We all tend to forget ourselves when we’re drowning in work. Setting an alarm so you remember to drink water, get up from your chair and stretch, take a tiny break from your screen or even step out of the cloud of over thinking can do wonders. If you don’t want to set an alarm, something very traditional such as wearing a reminder bracelet helps too. Tell yourself or put a sticky note somewhere reminding you to take that mindful break each time you look at the bracelet. Don’t forget the intention though, like Neville Longbottom forgot why his Remembrall turned red!
Slow down to speed up!
Huh? Confused? Being mindful doesn’t mean Zen music in the background, incense burning and you almost dozing off. Being mindful is to declutter your mind so that your outcome increases. By practicing mindfulness in each moment, we get efficient and ace our tasks. In short, we speed up like Flash. Effective leaders, workers, and entrepreneurs slow down and reflect to make the best decisions and actions-they slow down to speed up. That’s a mindful way of working.
Embrace the stress you feel
It is natural to feel stressed and that too on a daily basis. That PPT needs to be sent on time, you have meetings lined up, but at the same time you need to step away from your desk to take a family member to the doctor, etc. Anything can come up and cause stress. The problem begins when we resist it. Identify that you are stressed and use it to your benefit. Make stress your friend. How? You need to change the way you think about it. Then your body will respond differently too. The next time you’re facing a challenge at work, notice how your breathing accelerates. Observe these responses and then switch your attitude- respond to your stress creatively rather than negatively with panic. Be grateful that the stress response is energizing you. You will notice that your body prepares you for the upcoming challenge.
These simple exercises can not just add to your productivity and achievements but add years to your life as well!
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