Mindfulness Reduces Stress

Researchers can’t seem to get enough of mindfulness these days. Studies have linked it to heightened creativity, improved concentration, lower stress, better working memory, and increased compassion. Now, new research also shows that it helps us overcome biases we’re not even aware we have.
The study, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, suggests that mindfulness meditation can reduce implicit bias—and the negative behaviors that it causes.

There are competing definitions of what mindfulness means, but it boils down to paying attention to what’s happening around you at any given moment, instead of operating on autopilot. By concentrating on the present, you’re more likely to act thoughtfully, and therefore less likely to succumb to automatic reactions based on previously established experiences.

Older studies have connected mindfulness with reduced automatic processing and less prejudicial behavior, but researchers Adam Lueke and Bryan Gibson found that mindfulness can also lessen implicit bias. Implicit attitudes are based on automatic associations, and they influence behavior more than we realize. Even as we assert egalitarian values or condemn discrimination, automatic processing often colors how we evaluate and treat others.

Lueke and Gibson explain that a group who listened to a 10-minute mindfulness exercise exhibited less bias on the race and age implicit association tests (IATs) than those who didn’t—without even focusing on the biases themselves.

The 72 participants were white college students who didn’t know what was being studied beforehand. The test group listened to a recording that made them aware of their heart rate and breathing. It told them to accept these sensations and thoughts “without restriction, resistance, or judgment.” The control group listened to a 10-minute recording about history. Then both groups completed the race and age IATs, which captured response times in pairing positive or negative words with black or white faces and then with old or young faces.

The mindful group showed less implicit racial and age bias than did the control group, and this was, in part, due to a reduction in the automatic activation of negative associations (i.e., black-bad, old-bad). This confirmed older research that mindfulness makes one less reliant on previously established associations. But the researchers were surprised to also find that the mindful group was less able to see differences between the faces than the control group, which seems to suggest that when you’re less likely to automatically associate black and old with “bad,” race and age are also less detectable.
The ability to curb implicit bias and weaken negative associations by simply being more mindful could help prevent all kinds of negative effects. Previous research has shown how implicit out-group bias can make someone more likely to shoot at a black suspect in a simulation or become more aggressive in a video game.

Implicit attitudes even predict some negative behaviors in the workplace better than explicit attitudes. For example, they are more predictive of discriminatory hiring decisions, lack of trust in out-group members, and hostile body language toward stereotyped group members. As Lueke explained, “People high in implicit bias will tend to maintain distance, not make as much eye contact, fidget, remain terse in their responses, and generally give non-verbal cues that are indicative of discomfort.” And this happens even if they consciously want to communicate in a non-biased way.

So how do you become more mindful? We often have other things on our mind regardless of whether we are at work or not; our to do lists, that date we went on the night before, mulling over that crazy episode of ‘The Walking Dead’ we saw, wondering what we are going to have for dinner tonight. Silencing and focusing these thoughts is a practice. But even if you’re busy, there are really basic steps you can take—anywhere, anytime—to make you more aware of the present.  Simply stop, bring your mind into the moment it is in, right here and you will feel yourself get present.  Like any muscle though, challenge is strengthening that ability through consistent use.

Past experiences have a way of influencing our decisions and immediate reactions in ways we don’t fully understand and may not even realize. It’s important to acknowledge this and find ways of making ourselves less reliant on them.  For more information on this visit:  www.LivingFromChoice.com

Time Managment is PAINFUL: Real leaders do it anyway!

We all want to FEEL GOOD, and avoid feeling BAD. So we prefer that change be comfortable. Sometimes it is. Most of the time it’s not. As is so often said in the fitness world, “No pain, no gain.” You want to slim your waistline? Bigger muscles? You earn that progress through discomfort. You’re going to sweat, and it’s going to burn. Sure, you’ll feel great afterward, but the process is going to hurt. That’s how you know it’s working. That, and seeing the results when you stick with it over time.

Business change works exactly the same way. In my experience as a coach, it’s your relationship to discomfort that makes all the difference. Leadership is a challenge, so working on yourself as a leader should feel like a workout. You are intentionally doing things that make you uncomfortable to improve yourself and your business. It’s not easy. But it doesn’t have to lead to burnout. In fitness, it’s called over-training. In business, it’s called overwhelm.

Having more time in your day is right there for the taking, but you have to accept some discomfort to get there. Over the years, the most successful clients I’ve had are the ones willing to accept this short-term ‘pain’ for the long-term benefit.

 

Can you leave the house every morning in sixty minutes flat? Can you cut your lunches to thirty for a while? Can you say “No” to some brilliant and fun activities that you know you can’t really focus on? Can you train someone on your staff today to handle three things that you know you shouldn’t be dealing with as the business leader? Are you willing to post office hours for the only times of the day where employees can interrupt you?

… it’s your relationship to discomfort that makes all the difference.

Some of these things may sound easy, but putting it into practice is another story. Going out of our normal routine can be very uncomfortable. Just remember why you’re doing this – it’s in the best interest of the business and you as the owner.

In the end, you’ll realize that “I don’t have time” is almost never true, it’s just that you haven’t yet made the difficult choices about how you use your time. And making those choices is the first step to creating a business that works.

Not enough sales, people problems, cash flow issues, etc. – are all symptoms – they’re all a call to face the discomfort directly and solve it first by making the time. Then you’ll have your strength to be able to lift the real weights of finance or management systems or whatever your business needs next. It all begins with you.

TIME TO GET HONEST & MAKE THE CHANGE

It's already half way through April and as I listen to conversations happening around me in public I'm reminded of the frantic pace we all are in.  It's as if life is speeding up and we are getting less and less done, yet seem to feel more and more stressed out.  Even my own internal conversations have taken a sometimes perverse twist.  The voice of sabotage has called in for backup...hell my voices have voices now!  LOL

I took a long, honest look at myself this past month.  My results; health, wealth, business, relationships.  All were put under the microscope and I was left feeling disappointed that I too had allowed myself to get 'busy' without generating the results I said I was focused on creating at the beginning of the year.  Oh who am I kidding, even last month I said I would create.  Don't get me wrong, there are areas I am locked in and on point around my goals.  But others have been pushed to the side, blanketed in excuses and reasons why I haven't....

So here I am, and if your reading this, here you are...

...Time to get honest...

Where do you need to make the change?
What do you need to give up to get back on track with what you said you wanted to create?

Take an inventory of all the prices you will pay if you fail at your goal, and you better include how you will feel about yourself.

Then take an inventory of all the payoffs you will gain in the success of your goal, and how can you place a price on self esteem.  The greatest benefit of following through with our dreams and desires is how we feel about ourselves, which ultimately spreads out to those that love us.  I mean, who doesn't enjoy watching someone they love succeed in life?!?!

If you consistently struggle to make the end zone in your goals you may consider doing some formal training.  Visit:  www.LivingFromChoice.com and learn what keeps sabotaging your success and happiness!