KATE ATKIN

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kate@kateatkin.com
07779 646976

What does Mindfulness have to do with the bottom line profit and the productivity of your staff (or yourself)?

How often do you spend time being in the moment, being conscious of your actions, taking control of your thoughts?  Or do you spend time responding to the ping of a new email, switching tasks readily and getting interrupted at work?

Research from Harvard in 2012 found that for the average person (if there is such a thing) the mind wanders 47% of the time.  What they also found was that a wandering mind equated with an unhappy person.  If you feel unhappy at work how productive are you versus the times when you feel happy?  Stands to reason doesn’t it, happier people = more productive people.  There’s a great TED talk by Matt Killingsworth on this topic, showing just how important it is to stay in the moment, something which practicing Mindfulness can help with.

What has also come to light is that practicing mindfulness can help reduce stress, increase happiness and boost productivity.  Here’s a link to a fuller article on the subject by www.mindful.org

Don’t just enjoy reading it, give it a go, you’ll be amazed at the results!

 

Mindfulness

Mindfulness at Work
www.mindful.org

How important is mindfulness in business?

Having attended a Forward Ladies event sponsored by Barclays I came away inspired, enthused and reinvigorated.  It set me thinking about how often do we do that for ourselves?  Or do we just stay stressed individuals, trying to keep up with the rapid pace of life.  Practicing mindfulness is one way inspiration and relaxation can be achieved, with surprising results.

The two speakers, Deirdre Bounds founder of i-to-i and Sally Preston, Kiddylicious, both agreed in the Q&A session that when running a business taking time out for you (the business owner/founder) was very important.  Their advice?  Book a holiday!  So with the summer months approaching – I know the weather isn’t complying with the sentiment – where and when is your holiday going to be?

When I first started my business in September 2000 I remember people being really surprised that I had already booked a week’s holiday in late October.  It was the best thing I could have done as the pattern was then established.  Over the last 13 years I have taken more and more time out from the business, and the result?  A fall in turnover?  A loss of business?  No!  An increase in both my client base and my turnover.  So much for the addage “I can’t afford the time…”.  You can’t afford not to!  As the late Stephen Covey agreed with his 7th habit “Sharpen the Saw”.

Regular, smaller, timeouts are also extremely important.  I recently came across this post which identifies the benefit of taking time out while at work https://www.mindful.org/mindfulness-practice/a-new-way-to-work? together with the infographic on the mind at work.