This month we’ve focused on ways to awaken or strengthen a stronger sense of mindfulness as we move through each day. We’ve looked at benefits of mindfulness over disadvantages of mindlessness. We’ve reviewed important points about resilience and mindfulness.

For this article, we will look at ways to increase our mindfulness resulting in a more satisfying and successful life. That sounds like something we all desire.

Research shows that we spend nearly 47% of our waking hours thinking about something other than what we are doing. That’s what’s called operating on autopilot. Operating on autopilot does not serve leaders well. It’s critically important that leaders pay attention, maintain focus and concentrate on the work at hand. In fact, it’s every bit as important as the technical skills or management skills of a leader. So, how do we do this? How do we keep our brain from wandering away from where we want to focus?

According to Ramus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter, we can train our brains to focus better by incorporating mindfulness exercises throughout your day. The two worked with more than 250 organizations in doing just this. Below are their guidelines for becoming a more focused and mindful leader.

1. When you wake up, spend two minutes in your bed simply noticing your breath. As thoughts about the day pop into your mind, let them go and return to your breath.
2. Next, when you get to the office, take 10 minutes at your desk or in your car to boost your brain with the following short mindfulness practice before you dive into activity.
   • Close your eyes, relax, and sit upright.
   • Place your full focus on your breath. Simply maintain an ongoing flow of attention on the experience of your breathing: inhale, exhale; inhale, exhale.
   • To help your focus stay on your breathing, count silently at each exhalation. Any time you find your mind distracted, simply release the distraction by returning your focus to your breath.
3. Refrain from checking your emails first thing in the morning. This helps bypass distractions and opens time for exceptional focus and creativity.
4. Before entering a meeting, take two minutes to practice mindfulness and reduce a wandering mind. They even suggest having all members of the meeting take two minutes in silence before the meeting begins. And, giving a few minutes at the end for a mindful transition to their next meeting or focus of work.
5. After lunch, set your timer on your phone to go off every hour and do one minute of mindfulness practices.
6. Finally, as the day comes to an end and you start your drive home, apply mindfulness. Turn off your phone and radio and just be. Attend to your breath and let go of the stresses of the day to return home and be fully present with your family.

Two skills define a mindful mind: focus and awareness. Focus is the ability to concentrate on what you’re doing in the moment, while awareness is the ability to recognize and release unnecessary distractions as they arise.

Mindful working means applying focus and awareness to everything you do from the moment you enter the office. Focus on the task at hand, and recognize and release internal and external distractions as they arise. In this way, mindfulness helps increase effectiveness, decrease mistakes, and even enhance creativity.

As Hougaard and Carter say, “Mindfulness is not about living life in slow motion. It’s about enhancing focus and awareness both in work and in life.” That sounds good to me. What about you?

Source: Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter in “How to Practice Mindfulness Throughout Your Work Day.” (From Mindfulness; HBR Emotional Intelligence Series; Harvard Business Review Press; 2017.)