From entrepreneurs of startups to CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, successful people have a few things in common.
Many of those secret ingredients for success have to do with mindfulness. However, many don’t even know what mindfulness is. Hence, the first question is, what is mindfulness?
Mindfulness has to do with aspects of the mind such as:
- Clarity
- Focus and concentration
- Prioritization
- Thoughtfulness
- Intention
- Awareness of yourself and others
- Awareness of one’s own mental state
Since executives and entrepreneurs don’t need big muscles for lifting heavy boxes or the stamina of a bicycle messenger, their mind is their most important tool. They need to keep it sharp, disciplined, and working optimally.
From Jack Dorsey to Tom Brady, Arianna Huffington to Oprah Winfrey, these successful leaders have found mindfulness meditation invaluable and essential to their success. It gives them priceless time to destress, think, prioritize, focus and clear their mind. But it also does so much more.
Here, I’ll talk about what mindfulness meditation is, how it works, and why it can help with professional success.
Why is Executive Mindfulness the Biggest Key to Success?
Research has shown that any super successful person has a mastery of the following three skills:
- Knowledge and Expertise
- Personal Presentation
- Proper Mindset
Knowledge and Expertise are about fully understanding your company, your competitors, and the industry as a whole, your role, and your responsibilities. Most executives consider themselves highly knowledgeable experts.
Moving on to the next one, Personal Presentation is how other people perceive you. Do you project confidence? Do people want to listen to you? How is your handshake, charisma, voice, and speaking skills? Most executives believe the way they present themselves could use some work.
Furthermore, a proper mindset has to do with focus, concentration, discipline, positivity, creativity, productivity, confidence, thinking clearly, ego in check, and remaining cool/calm/collected. Most professionals think they are below average in maintaining the proper mindset.
Luckily, mindfulness meditation helps executives improve dramatically with numbers 2 and 3.
What is Executive Mindfulness Meditation?
Mindfulness meditation is the practice of being present, aware, alert, relaxed, focused, and becoming more conscious of our mind, body, and surroundings.
Not only this, It’s the practice of becoming unidentified with our thoughts and emotions, and unattached to our passing worries and doubts.
By sitting in a quiet place for just 20 minutes a day and focusing on your breath or your body, you will slowly train your mind to become more controlled and intentional rather than reactionary and impulsive.
95 percent of everything humans do happens subconsciously, habitually, and without thinking about it. This means that 95 percent of the time, we are not fully present in the task we are undertaking.
We should practice mindfulness meditation and be present throughout the day. Through this, we can become more conscious, think more clearly, notice more and make better decisions.
4 Ways Executives Use Mindfulness for Success
As we put our attention on the present moment, we cannot simultaneously be lost in thought. By getting out of our heads, we allow room for creativity, fearless leadership, greater understanding, and the confidence that comes from detaching from self-doubt.
1. Meditation for Creativity
Every time we bring our attention to the present moment, we disrupt the constant chatter in our heads. Moreover, when we focus on the task at hand, we thrive. Did you know why? Because our focus is on the flow at that moment.
Not only this, at that moment we are only thinking about just that moment. This means we aren’t thinking anything behind it, or beyond it. Therefore, Our old habitual thought patterns end, and new thought patterns, creativity, and deeper understanding can take place.
2. Meditation for Leadership
A leader’s job is to put the company’s needs or its employee’s needs first. In mindfulness meditation, we’re able to get outside of our head, and we can actually grow the part of the brain responsible for empathy. This makes us better leaders as we can better understand the needs of others.
3. Executive Mindfulness Meditation for Focus
The practice of focusing on the present moment in meditation improves one’s ability to concentrate. Usually, we just think whatever train of thoughts pops into our heads. By concentrating on something in the present moment—whether it’s your breath, your body, or putting your complete attention on a task—you’re practicing and improving your focus and disciplined thinking.
4. Meditation for Confidence
You can read every book on power postures and charisma you like, but if you still have thoughts of self-doubt, worries, and fear, your face and body will give it away. The best and really only way to project confidence is to be confident.
When we meditate, we observe our thoughts when they pop into our heads. By observing them instead of being lost in them, we are able to recognize thought patterns that don’t serve us. Once we become conscious of them, unconscious thought patterns cannot continue.
CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs are all under great stress. Eliminating fear takes more than just positive affirmations. It takes awareness. Awareness, like when we’re being watched, makes our thoughts be on their best behavior. Presence stops the negative mind chatter altogether and allows us to better respond to whatever situation comes up.
This is backed up by science too. The more we meditate and practice mindfulness, the smaller the region of the brain becomes that is responsible for fear. When we’re afraid, we make costly mistakes. This is why the CEOs and executives of Fortune 500 companies are turning to mindfulness meditation.
How Can Busy Executives Practice Mindfulness Meditation?
Aren’t powerful executives too busy to sit around and do nothing? Nothing could be further from the truth. If 20 minutes per day made you twice as productive, twice as creative, and twice as focused, then you can’t afford to meditate!
There’s no bad time to meditate. Many people like to wake up 20 minutes earlier so that they can squeeze in meditation. They report having more energy throughout the day than if they had slept an extra 20 minutes.
Moreover, many executives find meditating for part of their lunch break is the perfect way to boost their energy and focus for the afternoon.
However, perhaps the greatest thing any company can do is to offer it to every employee 3 to 5 times per week. Many successful corporations are doing just that. They’re turning quiet spaces into meditation rooms and bringing in expert meditation teachers to teach their employees mindfulness meditation for success.
Every single employee at times deals with stress, low energy, lack of focus, and habitual thinking that prevents creativity and confidence. Executive meditation can help them refocus, reenergize, and find greater satisfaction in their work and lives.
Studies have shown that companies that have implemented meditation programs for their workers have better retention, make fewer costly mistakes, save money from stress-related absences, have healthier workers and office relationships are improved.
Globally, stress and high employee turnover rates cost the economy trillions of dollars. It may sound like having your employees and executives sit around for 20 minutes a day with their eyes closed is a bad use of time, but in reality, there is nothing that could be greater for their personal and professional success, as well as for the company’s success.
