Leaders: How and why mindfulness is important in the workplace

Mindfulness is the current term that people are using to try and explain our capacity for greater awareness. The word ‘mindfulness’ can often be misconstrued as spiritual or philosophical in its basis. In talking about mindfulness in the business environment, what you are really after is awareness. Awareness is when you are willing to see everything as it is, without a bias or judgment of what is right or wrong. With awareness you can see what is and isn’t working, and you can function in a way that allows different possibilities to present themselves in your business rather than trying to ‘fix’ or ‘solve’ anything.


Do

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  • be self- aware
  • be present with people
  • ask questions to invite a different possibility
  • listen to the people around you
  • choose what will create for the future
Don't

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  • discard information – collect it
  • reprimand people for giving too much information
  • assume anything has been completed until it’s done
  • jump to conclusions
  • quit

[publishpress_authors_data]'s recommendation to ExpertBeacon readers: Do

Do be self- aware

You want to be aware of the way you function in business – not only mentally, physically, emotionally, and psychologically, but energetically too. Are you quick to judge things if they don’t fit your business paradigm? Is it important to be right, or innovative? What have you decided isn’t possible in your business? Are you willing to be brutally honest with yourself and totally self-aware? If you are, you can look at where you have limited the business with your points of view and open up new spaces and possibilities where you previously considered them to be unavailable.

Do be present with people

When you are present with the people in your life, you begin to see when energetically something is not working. You begin to realize when something is off. You may not necessarily have a clear idea what is off, but you definitely know something is off! When you are willing to have the awareness of something not working, and deal with it rather than deny it, you give yourself more choices.

Do ask questions to invite a different possibility

When you know that something isn’t quite working or needs to change, ask questions rather than jump to conclusions. This will allow you to be dynamically more creative when making business decisions. Instead of thinking that you have a problem that needs fixing, what if your platform was always, “What else is possible that we haven’t considered?”, “What choices do we have that we don’t know about yet?” You need to ask questions that get you out of the box. Stop looking for answers and instead invite possibilities that go beyond your mind’s ability to imagine. If you want to lead your business to continually expand, you must be willing to lead from questions rather than answers.

Do listen to the people around you

The best communication is listening. Each and every person that works with you or for you has value in the way in which they see things. All of this can accumulate to a greater awareness and a greater possibility in what you create.

Do choose what will create for the future

Look at every choice you make and ask, “If I choose this, what will this create? In 5 years? In 10 years? In 20 years?” When you recognize that your choices create, you may begin to choose from a different place in every situation.


[publishpress_authors_data]'s professional advice to ExpertBeacon readers: Don't

Do not discard information – collect it

One of the things we tend to do is if somebody is a receptionist and they say something to you, then some people may discount what she says because she is a receptionist. Don’t discount what people say because of their role in an organization. Each person hears things from a different place than you do.

Do not reprimand people for giving too much information

Most people have learned that if they give too much information, they’ll get slapped. Never slap somebody for giving too much information. Thank them for the information. You can choose not to use it. How can the information they provide from their point of view be a contribution to your awareness, and the choices you have available?

Do not assume anything has been completed until it’s done

Even when you have somebody who says they are going to do something for you, continue to look for other possibilities. “What else is possible here that I hadn’t considered? What else could there be that hasn’t existed? What other choices are there?” That’s where you’ve got to learn to live from.

Do not jump to conclusions

Once you decide that you have the answer, nothing that doesn’t match your conclusion can come into your awareness. You’ve got to be willing to see what kind of awareness you could have if you were willing to question rather than judge.

Do not quit

Never give up. Never give in. Never quit. If you get stopped in one direction, don’t quit. Ask another question and find out what else you might be able to do that you haven’t considered. Keep asking questions. Keep looking for other possibilities. When you get that as a way of being, you will never see that something can stop you. The only thing that can stop you is you and your point of view.


Summary

Leaders that are creating more in business know that they are not there to provide answers or control outcomes, but to continually expand their awareness and be a catalyst for change. Function from total awareness, question, choice, possibility, and contribution with everything. Do so with everything in your business. Trusting and using your awareness means you are on top of things, and the result is that things will keep growing and expanding.

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