Summer is generally thought of as brightness, heat and relaxation, while letting go into a carefree state. Within an organization, the reality of summer may be very different. The long days of sun may be spent sweating to meet deadlines. You may hurry so fast you miss important appointments, while attaching yourself to a perpetually expanding list of tasks.
All of this occurs while innovative minds build big dreams for important projects ready to launch into action—tomorrow. And now tomorrow is on the horizon. It is time to act on visions created during the pleasant days of sunshine.
Fortunately as the light sun-filled days shorten, the air temperatures kindly soften into a cooler sense of comfort. Likewise, with organizations, it is perfect timing to initiate a conscientious fall back to business.
But how does one let go enough to fall back when there is so much to do? While your mind may determine this as complicated, if not impossible, it is actually incredibly simple to do. Begin by consciously stilling your mind.
The art of stilling your mind, even for a moment is powerful. When accomplished it performs as though you pressed a reset button. When you move your mind again after the stillness occurs, essentially a reboot, everything becomes easy to categorize, delegate or act upon. Perhaps you realize some tasks are not important in the first place. Before you know it, the agonizing task list of summer has become a satisfied feeling of achievement.
How to still the mind
In order to successfully achieve your goals, taking a few moments to plan is important. But before you begin, it is often best to take a step back first. Now take another step back. In fact, go ahead and take another. Actually, sit down!
There.
Now.
You are sitting in your office chair with your feet pressed firmly on the floor.
Perfect.
Now you are here.
Close your eyes and take a deep inhale and hold for a slow count of five. Feel your eyes and shoulders relax. Feel your feet strongly connected to the floor. Exhale completely as you allow the weight of your world to slip off your shoulders. Then repeat a few deep, full breath cycles. Feel the room disappear as you focus on breathing with conscious intention.
Open your eyes and allow yourself to see your world right here, right now, with fresh perspective.
Congratulations! You have just brought yourself into the present moment by stilling your magnificent mind. You are now ready to carry out your vision. Take a pen into your hand. Write a short set of notes of strategy and anything else that surfaces to your mind while you are in the space, which you can later easily shift to your assistant, computer or team with clarity to be acted upon. This is also a perfect time to make important calls or present a compelling idea.
The benefits of mindfulness
Accomplishing complicated projects or long lists of tasks can feel daunting, but it doesn’t have to. Mindfulness allows space for you to take a step back in order to clearly and succinctly move forward in a conscious manner. It is quite rare to integrate one single factor such as mindfulness and experience the positive results of razor sharp leadership skills and strategy, improved bottom line, employee cohesiveness and increased energy.
By integrating mindfulness into your daily life, you join an increasing number of high profile corporations including Google, Adobe, Goldman Sachs, Target, Starbucks and Facebook who are already practicing it, and experiencing incredible results.
The beauty of mindfulness programs is they can be extensively integrated into leadership roles, and throughout complete organizations with incredible compliance. Mindfulness can be as simple as closing eyes for a few deep breaths, or as complex as a complete mindfulness program including meditation techniques or yoga.
It has been revealed that a simple mindfulness program can cut employee healthcare costs by an average of $2,000 per person, while increasing productivity by an average of $3,000 per person annually. Among a myriad of benefits, mindfulness programs also contribute to increased productivity, lower turnover, fewer errors and greater creativity. Mindful employees are clear and calm, while feeling less stressed along with the experience of improved health.
Mindfulness techniques have been practiced for thousands of years. Over the last century, the timeless teachings of Eastern practices have integrated with Western culture. They are clearly here to stay. The fascinating result of mindfulness integration into organizations has created cutting edge precedence in the Western world.
“The main business case for meditation is that if you’re fully present on the job, you will be more effective as a leader, you will make better decisions and you will work better with other people, I tend to live a very busy life. This keeps me focused on what’s important.” —Steve Jobs
You can learn mindfulness techniques
Ensure you receive quality authentic mindfulness training for your organization by asking Parrish Partners for assistance. Our custom mindfulness programs are designed to creatively and effectively integrate seamlessly into your organization. The benefits will help you to shine as a true leader, while keeping stress low and success high. Mindfully falling back to business has never felt so alive!
Rachel Cieslewicz, All Rights Reserved 2015
