You may be aware of a story that emerged in the news recently about a web developer who emailed her boss explaining that she wasn’t going to make it in for work because she needed to, "focus on [her] mental health." (Metro, 10 July 2017) It was the boss’ reply, however, that made the story go viral.
“I just wanted to personally thank you for sending emails like this”, went the boss’ reply, commending his member of staff for “highlighting the importance of using sick days for mental health.” (ibid) While not many of us would dream of hitting send on such an email, indeed some may even baulk at the idea of calling in sick for anything short of a borderline critical-state, the story certainly served to highlight an important issue that more and more companies are addressing.
There is certainly a progressive trend of organisations focusing more on the resilience and wellbeing of employees, in part because of a growing awareness of the costs of absenteeism, presenteeism and staff turnover associated with stress and mental health problems.
Perhaps for the individual, it’s prudent to be more proactive in our efforts to combat mental stress, rather than reactive and getting to the point where the only option is to bury your head under the duvet.
Don’t get me wrong, big life stresses are virtually impossible to avoid, but there is plenty that can be done to maintain a healthy mind so that you can remain positive, focused and content with the day-to-day stuff; mindfulness, the quality or condition of being conscious or aware, is just that, and is a state we should all strive for in every facet of our lives.
Hands up if you’ve ever gone through a spell where you’ve experienced some or all of these symptoms:
If any of these sound familiar, chances are you’re not in a mindful state. In fact, you’re probably in a state where you’re not giving the best of you to your organisation, your family, your friends…nobody wants that! Life wants the best version of you, the version that is in the room!
For the hard-nosed cynic, any discussion of emotions or pondering the ethereal might be scoffed at, but one only needs to look at how a hugely successful organisation like Google has incorporated a focus on mindfulness into the workplace. Expert in the field, Mirabai Bush, who introduced it into the tech giant, says, "becoming more aware of your own emotions as they arise gives you more choice in how to deal with them. Mindfulness helps you become more aware of an arising emotion. [By reflecting] on where the emotion is coming from in your mind (personal history, insecurity), you can respond in the most compassionate way."
Mindfulness is an entirely applicable, and sensible, practice for the workplace. It simply means generating positive focus and awareness to everything you do from the moment you step into the office; focus on the task at hand and recognise and release internal and external distractions as they arise. The consequences are an increased level of effectiveness, fewer mistakes, and it often enhances creativity.
There are plenty of resources freely available on how to be mindful, particularly in the workplace. Dummies.com offer this great article, the ACT Career Hub (member access required) has a range of resources on how to be more productive, while mindful.org provides some very simple ideas, such as:
Read the full article for more detail on how to achieve a mindful state
Again, for the cynics amongst you (assuming you’ve made it this far into the blog!), mindfulness isn’t about living life in slow motion, it’s about enhancing focus and awareness both in work and in life. It’s about stripping away distractions and staying on track with individual, as well as organisational, goals.
Find the resource, tool or whatever works for you, but just make sure you find your mind!
