Your Mind Doesn’t Come with an Instruction Manual
Our minds are the most complicated things known, but how do we make the best use of our minds to create fulfilling careers, nurturing families and quality lives? We consult Dr Henry Ford, business coach, mindfulness practitioner and regular WorkLife Central speaker.
Here are 5 Top Tips, based on the neurological geography of your mind, to enjoying quality time all the time, based in neuroscientific fact.
- Breathe
Your breathing is usually taken care of by your autonomic nervous system, because if you had to consciously do it, you’d probably get a text, forget to breathe and faint! When breathing automatically your breath will be controlled either by your “stress” Fight, Flight or Freeze branch of your autonomic nervous system or your “calm” Rest and Relax branch. You can however also control your breath consciously, slowing it down, making it deeper and informing your automatic nervous system that all is okay.
TOP TIP 1: Take 10 Slow breaths before you get out of bed, leave the office or before a big presentation.
- Monotask
Multi-tasking is a myth. Your brain sets up mini-networks as you approach any task and when you multi-task, you brain drops the first mini-network and set up another which a) is costly in terms of time and brain energy and b) leads to making mistakes as you “switch” between tasks. Monotasking means that you spend quality time in the moment, get things done more quickly and make fewer mistakes. Here’s a Huffington Post article about this topic.
TOP TIP 2: Spend uninterrupted quality time with your children, emails and spouse by sticking to the task and switching only for worthy distractions (not just a txt!).
- Random Acts of Kindness
We are social beings who rely on the fabric of human relationships to eat, work, celebrate, commute and raise our families. Practising kindness with your family and friends is easy. Bestowing a random kindness on a stranger lifts their and your own spirits in the expression of love which binds humanity together. Research shows that kinder self-aware leaders with strong interpersonal skills get better financial results than hard-driving, "results-at-all-costs" executives who actually diminish the bottom line.
TOP TIP 3: Hold a door or give up your seat for a stranger, or donate your morning coffee to a homeless person. You feel good when you do something good, which washes your brain with the right hormones.
- "STOP"
When you find yourself totally frazzled, stressed about the next meeting, the last meeting or a To-Do list longer than your arm, just STOP. Take control of your over-active “stressy” Fight Flight or Freeze mode and:
S – Stop
T – Take a breath – a long deep slow breath, or two
O- Observe – see what’s going on inside your body, and
P – Proceed having retaken control of your direction
TOP TIP 4: Taking control with a slow breath and giving yourself a moment to collect yourself informs your subconscious being that you are paying attention to your wellbeing and are using your higher mental faculties to skilfully proceed.
- Exercise your Mind
Mindfulness practice gives you the skills to focus your attention, access your self-nurturing self, manage distractions and enhance your emotional intelligence and control, but it takes exercise.
TOP TIP 5: Try a mindfulness app (such as Headspace), take an 8-week Mindfulness course, or join/create your company’s In-house Mindfulness Networks. WorkLife Central is offering 4 Mindfulness practice sessions next year, so come along!
The Bottom Line…
By practising these Five Top Tips you will work with the true nature of your mind to reduce stress and create quality moments in your life. Long-term stress shortens lives, makes lives miserable and gives you wrinkles! Expand the quality moments in your life to nurture a quality lifetime.
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Dr Henry Ford, a former MD at Citigroup and Director to Investment Committee of a €10B PE fund, has spent decades on Wall Street and in the City with JPMorgan, Bankers Trust, Citigroup and Terra Firma Capital Partners. His mindfulness practice is rooted in Kundalini yoga and meditation which he took up when earning his MBA and PhD in Operations Research at Wharton. He loves to help executives in the City develop their own mindfulness practice (http://HenryFord.Guru/), leadership style and balance through his coaching practice. Henry is an accredited business coach and RYA Yachtmaster, and currently serves as Co-President of the Wharton Club of the United Kingdom https://uk.linkedin.com/in/henry-ford-36980414
Originally Released On 07 October 2017