“I’m so busy, I don’t have time to slow down”: the mantra of our times in this always-connected world.
Technology promises to make our lives easier, faster and simpler. But, it's made our world exceedingly unfocused and overwhelming. Smartphones and laptops mean there’s no division between work and home. Our brains, which grow linearly, are overloaded by the exponential complexity of technology, which deteriorates our focus and performance capacity.
How do we overcome compounding distractions and evolve into higher-performing individuals?
Enter the science of mindfulness.
Mindfulness for peak performance
Mindfulness is a systematic approach to reprogram our brain and master ourselves to always perform at our peak.
Through conscious attention to your mind, body and emotions moment-to-moment, you create new synapses in your brain to build resilience, develop focus, and improve your leadership presence.
Peak performance is the state of effortless focus where time slows down.
In positive psychology, peak performance is also referred to as “flow” or being “in the zone". For many elite athletes, flow enables them to cultivate clarity. The clarity developed from mindfulness builds your capacity to make better decisions, think more creatively, be an inspiring leader and live your life deliberately, with your own momentum, instead of getting dragged around by circumstance.
Through various meditation techniques and breathing methods, we can observe our thoughts to identify habitual, unproductive patterns. For example, are we rehashing the past versus rehearsing for the future? Are our beliefs true or reflective of outdated assumptions? We learn to check in with ourselves to perform daily tasks with greater awareness that will expand to our relational and environmental interactions.
As our world grows exponentially more complex, our capacity to develop ourselves, teams and organizations will dictate the quality of our lives and distinguish our leadership.
The science and practice of mindfulness meditation
We’ve combined the ancient wisdom traditions of meditation with modern techniques from the latest business and brain research, tailored to the digitized, modern working environment.
Meditation is a systematic approach to learning mindfulness, based on a set of proven tools, principles and verifiable results. By practicing meditation daily through this program, we develop our mindfulness muscle.
Within this strategic habit building, you’ll fundamentally rewire your brain while learning to master your energy, focus and stress levels. Below are just some of the research-based cognitive, physical, social, and emotional benefits that result from mindfulness meditation:
The Effects of Meditation / Mindfulness | Summarizing the Scientific Evidence
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“2/3 of the effectiveness of business leaders comes from their EQ rather than their IQ or level of work experience.” -Daniel Goleman, Psychologist and author of the NYT best-seller "Emotional Intelligence”
Meditation reshapes the brain. Long-term meditation is associated with increased gray matter density in areas of the brain responsible for problem solving and empathy.
Meditation trains our brains to improve our baseline well being. After just 8 weeks of mindfulness training, fMRIs of new meditators showed that their neural activity had shifted more from the right frontal cortex (associated with stress, anxiety, worry and sadness) to the left frontal cortex (associated with happiness, high energy, alertness and enthusiasm). Participants simultaneously reported their moods improved. They felt more energized, more engaged in work and less anxious.
The top cause of stress in 2014 was work-related. Mindful meditation reduces stress, as the body releases fewer stress hormones and reduces neural connections to anxiety centers in the brain.
Study shows that more than half of workers surveyed considered turning down a promotion, leaving a position, or searching for a new job because of chronic workplace stress.
"Eighty percent of organizations believe their employees are overwhelmed with information and activity at work (21 percent site this issue as urgent), yet fewer than 8 percent have programs to deal with the issue. - Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report
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“I’ve done several mindfulness/meditation programs, but this program has COMPLETELY re-centered my life. After realizing the daily calls developed my focus and awareness of when I’m not being my most productive (I caught myself hopping around between email and work tasks instead of knocking things out), I got hooked within the first few weeks and have done all of the series so far.
I now notice day-to-day differences in my mental & physical stress levels, attention span, and concentration, the more I complete (or skip out on) each meditation.
I feel more in control, so I can structure my high level goals better––and it’s helped me build energy behind them. I’ve even started seeing more often how my habits affect other people (the emails help a lot).”
“I’m a much better leader as a result of this program. I’m much more attuned to my employees, and much less emotionally reactive at work. It’s been life changing in just a few weeks.”