The art of mindfulness can be a real win for the workplace
Mindfulness has been a buzzword for quite a while now. And with good reason. The practice of mindfulness has been shown to improve our mental and physical well-being as well as helping to reduce stress, improve focus, sharpen concentration and spur creativity. It’s a great technique to use in a work environment.
In times of stress it can be very easy to lose sight of the present moment. Worries about the future, endless to-do lists and various workplace distractions can derail our motivation for the task at hand. So, too, can concerns about past issues and even non-work related matters.
Mindfulness is about focusing on the present and what we need to achieve right now. It’s a simple, if not always easy, technique that brings all our concentration to a particular task in the moment.
This is not to say we completely forget about our other concerns, merely that we pay full attention to the here and now – which we can direct – rather than allowing worries about things we have little or no control over to distract us.
“If you can’t pay attention to what you’re doing, it’s going to be impossible to do it properly,” says Buddhist teacher David Nichtern in the half-hour “What is Mindfulness” program available via the Suncorp Learning Campus (SLC).
As well as improving your concentration and focus, other benefits of using mindfulness at work include increasing the amount of time you can stay ‘on-task’, a better ability to prioritise, and increased resilience to triggers and negativity. It also leads to better emotional intelligence, which can help improve your relationships with co-workers.
The 1-minute mindfulness video on The Suncorp Learning Campus explores the following suggestions to get your started on your mindfulness journey:
- Be consciously present
- Avoid multitasking
- Slow down
- Accept what you cannot change
Mindfulness has also been shown to increase people’s overall happiness over time by providing the tools that help combat negative thought patterns. Developing the ability to pause and reflect before you react is another key benefit of mindfulness that can be hugely beneficial in the workplace.
In recent years, many big organisations have begun to invest in mindfulness. The likes of Google, Nike and Procter & Gamble, for example, provide meditation rooms and classes for employees, and the US Army uses it to help soldiers deal with stress, before and after deployment.
To master the basics of mindfulness, Suncorp Learning Campus has several great courses. Most of the courses will take you through the basic breathing exercises required for a simple mindfulness meditation. This is easy for anyone to learn in just a few minutes. You do not have to have meditated before, nor do you need to subscribe to any religious or spiritual beliefs for it to work.
Once you’ve got the basics down, it’s important to practise mindfulness regularly. Every day if possible. It doesn’t take very long and, like any exercise, your abilities will improve the more often you do it.
There’s a good mix of options in The Suncorp Learning Campus to dig deeper into mindfulness today. From the Mindfulness series, to Mindfulness: An introduction, Mindfulness in the Workplace, or the extensive What is Mindfulness with David Nichtern.
