Imagine this.
Your day begins with a serene mind.
You’re not dealing with the stress of back-to-back meetings.
Your email inbox and task list are manageable.
Is it only a mirage?
Seemingly so. This picture of serenity is as distant as a mirage for most high-performing managers at the helm of successful businesses.
So the question is, how do some find their oasis of calm despite the demands of our chaotic world?
This is where mindfulness in the workplace comes into play, offering a powerful tool to attain calm amidst the storm.
Jane’s Quest for Balance In A Global Powerhouse
Jane is a manager in one of the top four global consultancy firms. She’s married with a young son and finds herself in a constant battle with stress. She’s anxious because she’s not meeting the utilization levels that the company demands and cannot spend the quality time she wants with her son.
Emily: Navigating Time Zones and Expectations
Emily is an HR manager for a tech company in Europe. She works, takes a break from 4 pm-7 pm to be with her two children, and then continues working till 11 pm most nights. Her manager works out of the New York office. He’s new in his position and has high expectations. Emily and her husband have very little time together. The challenge of balancing work, family, and the lack of personal time has left her feeling drained. Her story highlights the critical need for mindfulness in the workplace, especially for executives and team managers juggling responsibilities across time zones.
John’s Journey to Self-Compassion
John’s role as a sales manager in a UK tech startup, combined with his people-pleaser personality, has often led him to stretch himself too thin, especially with the arrival of his third child. His paternity leave, intended to be a respite, became filled with work calls, highlighting the challenge of creating healthy boundaries. John’s experience underscores the importance of mindfulness in the workplace in fostering self-compassion and effective time management.
Justin Needs Creative Solutions To Restore Calm
Justin is a recently married account manager whose expertise and top-notch performance resulted in his selection to lead a team of four. It should be good news, but he faces the challenge of managing his team and exceeding client expectations, compounded by a team member’s absence on mental health leave. The pressure could easily overwhelm anyone, and Justin is searching for ways to support his team to maintain high performance without the stress.
All my clients have in common that they work closely with others. Most are managing teams, and they struggle to be happy and calm. This is not unusual, as we live in a world where we experience complexity, the speed of change, and the constant input of information and data. Fear of missing out and being uneasy about some of our choices is a constant factor in our lives.
The Role of Mindfulness In The Workplace
Researchers, such as the SFU study, have found that mindfulness is a powerful tool to reduce workplace stress. In the SFU study, mindfulness was defined as the “non-judgmental awareness of, and attention to, what is occurring in the present moment- including thoughts, emotions, and surroundings.”
There’s ample reason for major companies such as Google, General Mills, and Target to embrace mindfulness programs for their employees. In the US, 83% of workers grapple with work-related stress, resulting in employee churn, absenteeism, and decreased productivity, costing businesses as much as $300 billion annually.
One of the study’s more significant findings was that mindfulness empowered employees to alter their relationship with work tasks. By practicing short mindfulness before engaging in a task they feel anxious about, such as a meeting, they could diminish the threat level. Through mindfulness, they could stop stress from building up in the first place.
Mindfulness Does Not Mean Idleness
A Point32Health survey of participants in their workplace mindfulness training programs found that the ability to relax, handle stressful situations, and achieve work-life balance significantly improved. Beyond the data, Point23Health identified observable changes among colleagues who embraced mindfulness in the workplace.
- They understand their strengths and how to deploy them for the benefit of their team.
- They’re able to identify areas for improvement and can observe how these areas might impede the effectiveness of their teams.
- They don’t assume their opinion is the only one; instead, they seek out differing points of view from their team members, especially those with different backgrounds.
It’s important to note that managing stress and workplace performance are not mutually exclusive. Managing your teams and meeting your business goals are still priorities. With my coaching clients, like Jane, Emily, Justin, and John, we work on this polarity of managing stress and moving towards higher performance levels.
The Power of Journaling
Journaling is a part of mindfulness in the workplace. It helps navigate the complex emotions and stresses of professional life. It offers space for releasing thoughts and feelings that can lead to new insights and clarity.
Journaling is part of my morning routine. It’s a time to reflect, learn about myself, and grow. It’s a time when I can notice what is on my mind, how I feel, and what my energy is like. In one reflective session, I realized my energy had shifted from a lower level to a much higher level within minutes. This observation made me curious about the difference. I had, through my thoughts over those minutes, created some space.
When talking about space, I refer to it as a place to breathe and a reduction in mental clutter. This less dense mental environment, where the day’s demands don’t crowd thoughts, mirrors the essence of mindfulness in the workplace. Just like particles in a less dense state have more room to move, creating mental space allows for clearer thinking, better decision-making, and improved well-being at work and in life.
Bring It Home
Embracing mindfulness in the workplace is not just a strategy but a transformative journey toward achieving calmness and productivity. We’re invited to redefine success, not merely in outcomes and achievements but in the quality of our engagements and interactions with those around us. By integrating mindfulness into our daily routines, we unlock a powerful tool for navigating the complexities of our professional and personal lives, enhancing resilience, and fostering a creative and compassionate ecosystem at work.
I invite you to commit to this path of mindful living, transforming your workday from a place of stress to a fountain of strength and calm.
Samantha Amit – Leadership Coach and Mindfulness Practitioner
Samantha helps managers be more present, more confident and to focus on what and who is important, to excel and thrive at work and life.
Inspiring managers to grow and together make a global impact.
Transforming people and companies for the future.
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