Mindfulness for performance-driven professionals, with Joy Rains [Interview]
“Mindfulness is an open awareness of the present moment“. That’s how Joy Rains, author of “Meditation Illuminated: Simple Ways to Manage Your Busy Mind” and “Ignite Your Sales Power! Mindfulness Skills for Sales Professionals” starts our talk.
She also speaks about the most important factors for high performance, concentration and our ability to sustain attention and focus. Time do redirect all of your brain circuits towards her insights:
1. What mindfulness really is and what it is not?
Mindfulness is an open awareness of the present moment, without getting caught up in judgments, thoughts about the past, or thoughts about the future. One of the most popular ways to train yourself to become mindful is through the practice of meditation. Contrary to what many believe, meditation is not a practice of stopping your thoughts, but rather it’s a discipline of training the mind through the practice of awareness.
2. Research shows that event planning and related jobs are often listed among the most stressful occupations in the world. How does mindfulness help on reducing the stress levels of these professionals? How long it takes to notice the benefits?
Here’s how mindfulness helps to reduce stress: Since mindfulness helps you experience life in the “here and now,” you may notice tension that you hadn’t noticed before. For example, you might realize that your breathing is shallow or your muscles are tense—or, that you’re adding to your stress by imagining negative scenarios. Becoming aware of tension can help you release it.
There’s no formula to predicting how long it will take someone to realize the benefits of meditation. For some, it can be immediate. For others, it can take longer. Like starting any new endeavor, it’s important to practice regularly—and time and patience are key.
3. Mindfulness popularity is increasing exponentially among performance-driven professionals such as event planners, sales professionals, etc. Using it solely as a productivity tool is likely to show any results?
There are many scientific studies on mindfulness in the workplace that show positive outcomes, such as statistically significant benefits for employee health and well-being, more employee resilience in the face of challenges, and increased task performance. Additionally, mindfulness interventions at work decrease not only reactivity to stress but also the risk of burnout. Those kinds of interventions can vary from having simple personal conversations with your employees to showing them top-tier professional help such as organizing mental health days at the office or even dircet them to online prescriptions.
4. What do I need to start practicing? You need to join a group or ask for help from a specialized professional? Or I can just start on my own?
There are many ways to start practicing meditation. Some like to practice on their own, and others prefer to practice in groups. Meditation apps, such as Insight Timer, offer meditation instructions from more than 3000 meditation teachers.
You can also practice mindfulness most anytime by simple pausing and noticing. Notice the soles of your feet as they touch the ground when you walk. Pay attention to the feeling of water as you wash your hands. Notice your breathing, even for one breath. Mindful living can be simple to practice. All it takes is to remember to pause—and notice.
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And that you know a bit more about how to apply design thinking techniques to your event marketing strategy, don’t forget to keep learning:
- How to measure Event Success [and 7 points to ensure it]
- 6 reasons why Event Planners fail when starting an Event Planning Business
- Data Analysis for Event Planners: let go of the fear of numbers.
Check out the latest projects Joy is working at the moment on her website: www.mindfulsalespro.com or on her podcast “Mindfulness for Sales Professionals,” available on major podcast apps. You can also find her on LinkedIn.
About the Author / InEvent
