Creating a mindful culture

Creating a mindful culture

I’m sure you would have come across the word “mindfulness” a lot of people I meet think it is something to do with meditation. Nevertheless, practicing meditation isn’t a bad start however mindfulness is a lot more than just sitting down closing your eyes and feeling like Buddha.

Have you lately caught yourself standing in a room thinking why the hell did I come here? Or driving down the road on auto pilot? Or brushing your teeth in the morning without even realising which side you have already brushed? Or eaten your lunch at desk without even tasting a single bite? I got you didn’t I ha ha… well Mindfulness in essence is opposite of mindlessness.

There are two parts to mindfulness –

First, learning to focus and attention on one thing, and being able to bring the attention back when distracted.

Second is about the attitude you bring to paying attention i.e. being open, being focused and interested in what you are doing.

Why suddenly mindfulness is a buzz in corporate culture rather than in monasteries? It is due to the benefit it brings along with it. Imagine if someone can become more creative, have higher levels of pattern-recognition, greater confidence, greater motivation, greater focus and less anxiety obviously they’re going to be more productive and valuable to the company.

So what are few simple ways to create mindful culture?

• Do one thing at a time and do it well
• Be aware of your mindlessness patterns
• Create a soft anchor to flip out of distractions
• Set a time limit for worry or anxiety
• Switch off for at least 10 mins every day
• Recharge your battery often
• Ask for help if you’re in stress
• Develop mindfulness as a skill
• Choose to do three things mindfully everyday like brushing your teeth.
• Choose to respond rather than react
• Learn to accept difficult experiences or changes
• Lastly, Nab’s new marketing punch line – “talk to yourself more”

      

As said earlier, mindfulness is like a muscle which gets stronger and stronger with regular practice. Try the mindfulness app by smiling mind to get started I find it best to switch off during my train trips. You can find your own based on what works for you… happy minding.

“You can’t cross the sea by merely by standing and staring at the water – Rabindranath Tagore”

Unplug your mind

Dump the phone and unplug your mind

"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small, A journey of thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

‘Constantly connected’ – if that seems to sum up your day then I have a word of caution for you and it is not coming from me alone, former vice president of Facebook Chamath Pali says “Social media is ripping apart the basic fabric of our society” and he feels “tremendous guilt” over his work on building Facebook’s social validation engine. Believe it or not Facebook has an algorithm to assess your personality and creates so called “short term, dopamine feedback loop called social validation”. Which in simple words means the like buttons, high fives, happy go lucky icons that it reads from your profile and feeds it into an algorithm to target advertisement and social traffic onto your Facebook page.

In an interview with Harvard business school he says he has deactivated not only his but his family’s Facebook account and encourages his kids to call their friends over phone rather checking in status on social media. All this has added another buzz word in our well-being dictionary called “Digital Detox”.

While Technology addiction is not classified as a psychological disorder as of now but it is heading that way quicker than you can imagine. At the same time, there is no denying the fact about value technology delivers in today’s age. However, as the old saying goes “too much of anything is bad” it becomes our revered duty to let our next generation understand the risk that technology overdose brings. Believe it or not we are the last generation on this planet that spent their lives without any screens, apart from a Television.

I still remember the good old black and white TV set in our living room back in 80’s and waiting for Giant Robot, He Man and Spider Man animation series to be aired every Sunday. I never imagined as a child something like tablet or smart phone would make it possible to deliver such content with mere touch of a button. Maybe it was good,since we had time rationed to watch this stuff vs. studies, playtime and family time.

As they say “history repeats itself” number one advise digital detox experts give is rationing screen time in our daily life, so let’s look at how it works:

Implement computer free days – Take out at least one day per month or every fortnight when you

dump your phone, tablet, laptops and TV’s to enjoy time with your family.

Leave the screens out of sleep – Latent technology used in LED screens is a blue optical display which hampers our brainwave pattern, listen to some good old songs or read a book before going to bed instead of looking at a screen. Psychology experts suggest at least one hour gap between sleep and screen time.

Carry your camera – Instead of phone take out your good old camera on holidays to restrict screen time.

Disconnect to reconnect – The best part of living in Australia is the good old “Outback” culture, we are so fortunate to have the biggest backyards and lovely camp sites all over the country. If you haven’t tried camping ever it is a must do activity. Leave your phones and screens behind to rejoice reconnect and recuperate with your family and loved ones.

Control your phone – If you are tempted to look at your phone with every ring, vibrate or notification then take it as a signal to control your phone time. It can be as simple as leaving your phone away and going on a walk with a mate or just by yourself. It is a good idea to switch off your phone at night or at least leave it on silent away from your bedroom.

Schedule screen free nights – Once a week switch off Wi-Fi and turn off TV to spend some good old dinner table time with your loved ones.

“Reward Yourself” - Especially kids for not using internet/ TV/ YouTube for once a week by scheduling screen free trip to park, zoo, aquarium or beach. There are digital detox retreats if you wish to take the pricey option.

Given that our relationship with screen is still relatively new, there are warnings signs that we should look out for and pass on to the next generation the experience we have been raised with.

Dare to dream?

"To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself "  - Soren Kiekegaard.

I'm sure you must have heard about living in "comfort zone", What exactly is comfort zone? Let me elaborate. Couch surfing on a Sunday afternoon vs. getting up and going to Gym or mucking around at Facebook instead of giving time to your family.

These are just trivial examples of mundane things that we could do when finding ourselves upset or frustrated on not having a growth opportunity. I got hang of this concept in one of my communication class during screen business course, Stretch zone is what lies outside of our comfort zone. I call it the "growth zone" because you meet growth opportunity aka learning experience only when you are outside of your comfort zone.

If you leave the moment to go back to comfort zone, you will lose opportunity to grow, in our example opportunity to be with our family or lose some extra fat at the gym. If you wish to take advantage of this moment you need to find the lesson or the learning ripe for the picking. Why not just live comfortably in our comfort zone? Because if you wish to live your dreams, you are going to have to grow. Growth only happens outside of your comfort zone, meaning when you push yourself and when you are uncomfortable.

"if you do what you usually do, you'll get results that you usually get" - Anonymous.

I can harp on this concept a lot, however only thing that counts is getting the drive to get to your purpose. During the Xmas break take this opportunity to ponder on what actions you might need for next year that will make you uncomfortable and closer to your purpose. Wishing you very safe and happy holiday season and see you in 2018!


"Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction" - John F Kennedy.

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Want to build momentum?

Want to build momentum? quickest way to do that is get up and get going! If you just sit there you are going to be forced to move by the changing times, movement is part of the human experience. You are either going to move yourself in the direction of your dreams or you are going to be moved by the progress of society.

Think about the universe it is in constant motion and we are part of it. To be static it to be out of the flow of the universe. If there is something between you ears stopping you for being in motion for goodness sake take care of it. Get moving, allow the flow of the universe to carry you to where you want to go. Think about it this way if you want to surf a wave on the ocean you have to do your part to get in motion and the wave will the rest. So what are you waiting for? I remember years ago I read this book by Justin Herald, in summary it said the same thing shortest way to reach your target is hard work.

"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you." 

- Thomas Jefferson. 

I remember the very first time I attended a meditation course 17 years ago, the very question that seeped through my mind was "who are you" we were meant to sit with a partner repeatedly posing this question. Pretty much like a Buddhist monk, years later I found out another way of doing it, but this time not by asking a probing question. This time (2007) I was on the road working crazy 24x7 to make my start up business success. I found the answer and I would like to quote another great man who agrees with me in this approach.

"Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do" - Steve Jobs.

Find out more about building momentum @ my Authentic Leadership course.

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