How to Improve Mindfulness at Work and Avoid Burnout
No matter what industry you work in, your career plays a huge role in your life. We all spend a great deal of time at our jobs, and unfortunately, they often contribute to some of the stress we experience throughout the day. Whether it’s relentless emails, Zoom calls or meetings – every day we’re bombarded with information and data exchange, and it can be a challenge to remain focused and present.
According to Domo’s Data Never Sleeps 5.0 Report, there are 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every day (1). In other words, whether it’s our work, social media, tv, or anything else – we’re exposed to an overwhelming amount of data.
So what are we to do? Well, mindfulness is a great place to start.
In this post, you’ll learn some of the basics of mindfulness and a few steps you can take right now to be a more present, happy version of yourself while you’re on the clock.
What is mindfulness, anyways?
The word mindfulness gets tossed around a lot, and it can be confusing to figure out what it is and exactly how to reap its many benefits. In the simplest terms, mindfulness is getting your body and mind into the present moment (2). It means being totally and completely “here” rather than worrying about the past or awaiting the future, and simply being.
It doesn’t always have to look like you sitting criss-cross apple sauce and chanting “ommmmm” over and over again. Yes, it’s a form of meditation, and it doesn’t necessarily mean closing your eyes in a seated position on the floor quieting all of your thoughts (although in my experience this is a great practice to incorporate regularly).
Instead, mindfulness can look like: taking in your surroundings, observing the taste and smell of your food, taking deep breaths, concentrating on one task at a time, the list goes on. Mindfulness means living in the here and now, and with some practice, can be an amazing tool to incorporate throughout your day to gain greater enjoyment.
The benefits of mindfulness
Let’s talk about some of the benefits of mindfulness. Spoiler alert: there’s a lot. Studies have shown that mindfulness can help decrease stress and anxiety, increase your ability to focus and make decisions, help make you calmer, and generally happier day-to-day (3).
Regardless of industry, you’ve probably experienced some (or a lot) of stress throughout your day. Between emails, phone calls, meetings and now more frequently – Zoom calls from your home – it’s become increasingly difficult to detach from work and not feel bombarded by technology all of the time. After all, if you are working from home, it means you can ALWAYS be working.
As you might have already guessed, mindfulness can play a huge role in helping to reduce stress throughout your workday and allow you to enjoy the mundane a lot more. Being at home all the time can have a tendency to make us feel stir-crazy, unrelaxed and unfocused.
When we feel like we have to be “on” all the time, it becomes difficult to know when to rest – and how to rest. By training yourself to come back into the present moment (hello, mindfulness) you’ll be able to listen to your body, know when to take breaks and use those breaks to re-energize – which in turn allows you to be even more productive.
How to be more mindful at work
Now that we know how mindfulness can help us throughout the day, how do you actually go about incorporating mindfulness during work hours?
Here are some tangible mindfulness at work tips that you can incorporate right now to be more mindful while working at the office, working from home, or wherever you happen to be!
- Quit the multitasking
We all try to multitask from time to time. Guilty as charged over here. It’s a natural human tendency to want to get as much done as possible, and unfortunately, the idea of multitasking is a flawed concept. Biologically speaking, the human brain finds it more difficult to accomplish tasks when it’s bouncing around from one task to another. A study done by the University of London found that multitasking actually decreases productivity (4).
To keep yourself on track and stay focused on one thing at a time, set aside time during your day for specific tasks. Rather than keeping your inbox open constantly, establish specific hours when you actively respond to emails. Or, rather than eating lunch at your desk and ‘half working’, take fifteen minutes to actually enjoy your food away from work. Focus on the sensation of your food and notice its taste and smell.
- Take breaks
Similar to the last tip, it’s far more productive to take breaks throughout your workday than simply barrelling through and never giving your brain any time to actively rest. Even if it feels like you don’t have time for that ten-minute walk outside, it’s almost a guarantee that you do.
Getting outside and giving your brain time to wander can do wonders for the rest of your workday. You may even find you come back with new ideas and inspiration you wouldn’t have otherwise had.
- Breathe
I know you know how to breathe. Mindfully breathing, though? That’s a whole different ball game. Taking a minute or two to focus only on breathing is probably one of the most powerful mindfulness exercises out there. Here’s a link to one of our favorite breathwork exercises (5) that uses the 4-7-8 technique (6). This type of exercise is quick, easy and can make a huge difference to your stress and anxiety when you lean into it.
How can I stay mindful all day?
Now that you’re equipped with some ideas and exercises, how do you actively stay mindful even while you’re working? Ironically, until we ‘master’ the ongoing journey of mindfulness, we might need to be reminded to practice it throughout our days.
It can be easy throughout the day to zone out or on the flip side – feel like we’re stuck on a hamster wheel. Between all of the distractions from our phones, our email, social media, and our actual work, it can be tough to remember to take an active break or be present in the moment to ease our stress.
An awesome idea from mindful.org is to set mindful reminders (7). You can do this on your phone, laptop, smartwatch, or anywhere that you typically remind yourself to do things. Set an alarm or notification to go off a few times a day that reminds you to either take a break or simply breathe. This will be an extremely helpful tool while you learn to be more mindful throughout each task.
Eventually, you may not even need the reminders, and how cool would that be?
Conclusion
Learning to be more mindful during your workday has a multitude of benefits, including reduced anxiety and stress, increased focus and decision-making, and ultimately – puts you in a calmer, happier state. By implementing small practices every day like taking breaks, mindfully breathing, and reducing your multitasking, you’ll find that you’re able to get a lot more done at work and actually enjoy your day. And isn’t that the whole point?
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