Apply mindfulness techniques to daily activities like emails, meetings, priorities, sleep, and work-life balance to master the mind in everything you do.
Maintain a consistent daily meditation practice, as without it, things tend to fall apart, especially during busy periods, helping you stay calm, focused, and centered.
Discipline yourself to identify only two or three true top priorities for the day and schedule them, as the mind cannot handle many ’top’ priorities, preventing overwhelm and enhancing focus.
Do not check email first thing in the morning to preserve your most creative and expansive mind, preventing it from being cluttered by minutia.
Shut down email and other device notifications on desktop and phone to avoid constant distractions, which can shrink the prefrontal cortex and impair focus.
When encountering creative blocks or tough spots, take a walk, get space, or do a one-minute mindfulness practice instead of reaching for digital distractions, to clear your mind and foster new ideas.
Always end meetings five minutes early and schedule at least five minutes of transition time in your calendar to mentally prepare for the next interaction.
During transition time, take 30-60 seconds to sit and breathe, allowing your mind to settle and become clearer for the upcoming meeting, rather than checking devices.
In meetings, silence your inner voice and actively listen to what’s being said, as this can lead to faster progress and more effective problem-solving, with one company reducing meeting time by 35%.
Suggest a one-minute pause at the beginning of meetings where everyone is present without devices or conversations, helping the team settle and be more attentive.
Before important discussions or giving feedback, be aware of your current state of mind to ensure you are in the right mindset for effective communication and interaction.
Give colleagues a chance to clear their minds and prepare for important discussions, rather than grabbing them on the run, to increase the likelihood of successful outcomes.
Do a few minutes of mindfulness practice before bed to calm the mind and let go of unresolved daily issues, which can improve sleep quality by an average of 37%.
Avoid all devices for one hour before bed to clear the mind of thoughts and ruminations that keep you awake, promoting a perceptual state conducive to sleep.
Instead of conceptual thinking, engage in perceptual activities like walking, exercising, playing with pets, or taking a shower before bed to shift into a sleep-conducive state.
Lie on your back, breathe out and relax, and consciously shift to your side when you start to fall asleep, creating a distinct transition from relaxation to sleep; repeat if waking up at night.
Develop mindfulness to be focused, self-aware, and present with your people, as it is a foundational quality for effective leadership, engagement, and performance.
Lead for the greater good and benefit of the majority, not just personal interest, as this fosters employee willingness to work hard and builds long-term loyalty.
Approach leadership with the intention to benefit others, even when delivering tough feedback or making difficult decisions, to build trust and ensure people know you have their back.
Adopt a business philosophy of taking care of your people (e.g., maintaining health coverage during a crisis), as this leads to higher engagement, loyalty, and ultimately better financial performance.
If dealing with a toxic individual, try to help them see how their behavior negatively impacts their own goals (e.g., team turnover, negative reviews) to open a dialogue for change.
If you cannot change a toxic boss or situation, prioritize self-care and self-compassion to manage the personal impact and maintain your well-being.
Develop self-awareness through practice to notice tension or frustration arising, and be willing to pull away from a situation (e.g., end a meeting) before reacting poorly.
If you need to step away from an interaction, respectfully communicate that you’re not in the right headspace to continue, emphasizing the importance of the conversation and your desire to be your best self.
Work to make mindfulness, attention, and emotional regulation a normal part of team or organizational culture, so these practices become effective and widely accepted.
Understand that mindfulness fosters mental velocity and agility, enabling you to switch between calm focus and necessary toughness, rather than making you soft or passive.
When starting meditation, pick one school, teacher, or set of related practices and commit to it for a couple of years to establish a solid grounding before exploring other styles.
Utilize the coach feature within the 10% Happier app for personalized, granular advice on specific meditation styles or any questions you have.
When strong emotions like anxiety arise during meditation, examine the feeling by breaking it down into thoughts and bodily sensations to understand its impermanence and impersonality.
Alternatively, when strong emotions arise, note them and then return your attention to a calming anchor like the breath to manage the intensity.
If focusing on the breath causes anxiety, switch to focusing on the feeling of your body sitting, a specific spot (e.g., bottom on cushion), or the sensation of your hands touching.
Explore body scan meditations, systematically focusing awareness from your head down to your toes, as an alternative to breath focus.
Use sounds as an anchor for meditation if breath focus is challenging or anxiety-inducing.
Engage in open awareness meditation, focusing on whatever naturally arises in your experience and gently returning to this awareness when distracted.
Explore loving kindness meditation as a specific style to cultivate positive emotions and broaden your practice.
Sign up for a meditation retreat, especially for beginners, as it can be a great way to ‘dip your toes in’ and have a transformative experience of being alone with your mind.