A straight definition of mindfulness goes like this: It is “the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment.” Not being mindful is an issue that – if one had to guess – only affects human beings. Other animals have no choice but to live in the moment, and it surely benefits them in the long run. When a bigger animal is stalking you from the rushes for his dinner, it pays not to get too involved in daydreaming while you’re taking a dozen quick gulps from a lake. Humans, however, with their knack for abstract thinking, can hardly help being sucked into other places that have nothing to do with “the present moment”: Our brains can whisk us away into memories of the past, visions of the future, and sideways speculations about whether we turned the stove off this morning. Shutting down these mind journies can be essential when there’s an important task at hand, and usually we need mindfulness at work more than anywhere else (except maybe when we’re speeding down a highway), so here are ten ways to be mindful and present in the office. Even on a Friday.
1.) Prepare a Breakdown of Your Day– Basic, easy and effective. Just write our a list of your duties for the day and allot enough time for each. The simple act of doing this – and of crossing off tasks when you complete them – is very satisfying and helpful on a fundamental, ever subliminal level. Laying it out like that for yourself will ease any panic over completing your workload.
2.) Focused Breathing– When the muscles you use for breathing tire, it’s a good sign that the rest of your muscles are experiencing fatigue as well. But you can strengthen your lungs by taking meaningfully deep breaths throughout your day. Tension and stress will evaporate with some focused breathing, and it will serve to awaken you to the moment you’re living in both physically and mentally.
3.) Mindful Observation– This one is all about connection to your environment, whereever you are. In order to achieve mindful observation, experts say to choose an object from your environment that is natural, like a desk plant. The idea is to focus on the object as long as you can while doing nothing else, “relaxing into” the reality and nuance of the thing you’re observing. Really see it, and you will be privy to its place in the world, and perhaps your own as well.
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4.) Eat Consciously– No matter how many times we’re told, we humans have a hard time with the simple idea that what we eat truly affects our well-being, mood and energy in the moment. Not to be as comically glib as songwriter Leonard Cohen, who called himself and all humans “brief elaborations of a tube,” but if you put it in your mouth and swallow it, it’s going to have a direct effect on your productivity and your ability to focus on what is happening rather than focusing on how rumbly your tummy feels.
5.) Practice Active Listening– Also called “empathic listening,” this technique is excellent for solving disagreements, and it also serves as the kind of quick reality check we look for to achieve mindfulness. To practice active listening, the listener has to “fully concentrate, understand, respond and then remember what is being said.” Sounds obvious, but too many of our conversations at work involve many signifiers of inactive listening: when you pepper in a lot of “uh-huhs” and “right, rights,” it’s a sure sign to the person you’re talking to that you’re getting bored quickly, so ixnay.
6.) Try Sitting On an Exercise Ball– Yep, posture counts too. Try sitting upright on an exercise ball (which has no back to support you) instead of slumping in your office chair, no matter how ergonomic. The connection between the mental and the physical is real, and we ignore our bodies and favor our mind at our moment-to-moment peril.
7.) Hide Your Phone– And this has nothing to do with how much the bloops and bleeps can irritate your coworkers. The cell phone, which has become as ubitquitous in the world as people and as essential to us as our eyeballs, is Public Enemy #1 in the crusade to distract us from the moment. If you’re keyed into what’s coming in on your personal device, that’s attention you could be lending to your work. So put it away and turn it down or off, and remember they have this new thing called voicemail for when you’re too busy to take a call.
8.) Give Yourself a Break– Whatever it is you’re working on, it can wait. If you’re not getting any traction on a task, drop it for ten minutes and go for a walk, get a glass of water, crack jokes with a friend for a few minutes. Give yourself a soft reboot and you’re sure to return to your task with a refreshed sense of clarity.
9.) Go Find a Rubber Band and Snap It– This one sounds weird, but it can work. Therapists have recommended keeping a rubber band around your fingers to snap whenever your mind starts to wander. It may seem silly to think a machine as complicated as a human mind can be righted by something as idiotic as the sound of a snapping rubber band, but here we are.
10.) Empty Your Inbox– Worrying about unanswered mail in your inbox can be an all-day distraction, so make sure you respond to emails as soon as they come in. An added bonus point to those of us who can leave work at the end of every day with a clean inbox.
