Three Ways to Bring Mindfulness Into Your Workplace
15 February 2017 at 8:05 am
To achieve your business’s social purpose, it’s important to first have a happy and thriving workplace. Georgia Slonim from Purposeful explains how mindfulness can help.
Mindfulness is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve employee wellbeing these days, so it is no surprise that it is such a growing trend in workplaces. The word mindfulness is thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean?
Simply put, mindfulness is the process of actively paying attention to the present moment. By connecting with what is happening here and now, we can stop heedlessly cruising through everyday life, and make the most of every experience.
Mindfulness is not a new concept, but the benefits of it have only recently become well known. It has been proven to help manage stress, improve productivity, reduce anxiety and increase creativity. In the context of a workplace, it can help achieve a good work life balance, increase moral and produce clearer, more-focused thinking.
So how can you incorporate mindfulness into your work life?
- Conscious awareness
Conscious awareness starts before you even get to work. Whether it’s the moment you wake up, on your walk to work or in the car before you go in, it’s important to take the time to relax, breath, and think about the day ahead.
As you take a deep breath, think about how you are feeling. What do you want to achieve today? What do you want to focus on? Having a clear goal for the day allows you to productively and confidently manage your work.
- Meditation at the end of a meeting
At the end of a group meeting, take five minutes to breath together in silence. Allow this time to reflect on all that was communicated. Take the focus off yourself, and concentrate on understanding what others said.
Remember your thoughts, and keep them in mind when interacting with colleagues throughout the day.
- Set mindfulness reminders
Set an alarm every few hours on your phone, to remind yourself to be mindful. When the alarm goes off, take a few minutes to simply sit at your desk, and think about the task you are working on.
Are you putting your full attention into the task? Is there something distracting you? Take the time to redirect your thoughts and efforts to the present moment, and return to the task with a fresh perspective.
Mindfulness takes practice, but following these steps everyday will turn small changes into meaningful habits.
About the author: Georgia Slonim is communications lead at Purposeful. Get in touch with Georgia at @purposeful_au.
