Does Mindfulness Have Meaning at Work? (2 of 3)
Why should you invest in a mindful workplace?
From Google to Goldman Sachs, General Mills to Aetna, mindfulness techniques are spreading across the business world as one of the best kept secrets of many high performing CEO’s and companies. You might have a fluffy or touchy-feely perception of mindfulness, however it is versatile and accessible to almost anyone, even the busy and restless.
Mindfulness is one of the best habits to cultivate for sustainable energy, enhanced focus and exceeding expectations. Here is the second of three blogs on why you should invest in a mindful workplace.
2. Increased Productivity
We know the benefits of exercising our physical bodies – but what benefits come from training our brains? Practicing mindfulness is the equivalent to a bicep curl for our brain, strengthening its ability to focus and get more done in the limited time we have.
One of the biggest barriers to productivity is multitasking. Being mindful means paying attention to what you are doing now, instead of switching tasks rapidly throughout your day. Research shows us that when we multi-task we are 40% less productive and our IQ drops 10 points – that’s the same as losing a night’s sleep or smoking marijuana. Mindfulness can help us to focus on one task at a time, resulting in increased productivity.
Real life example: Further research from Duke’s study determined that their 15,000 mindfulness participants regained an average of 69 minutes per week of productivity.
Research of the General Mills mindfulness program showed striking productivity results after just seven weeks: 83 percent of participants said they were “taking time each day to optimize my personal productivity” – up from 23 percent before the course. Eighty two percent said they now make the time to eliminate tasks with limited productivity value – up from 32 percent pre-mindfulness course.
Stay tuned for the number one reason to invest in mindfulness in April!
