Manage Your Mind
Written by Ron Cacioppe
Many (if not all) of us have moments when we are so involved in our own thoughts that we do not experience what is actually going on around us. The average person has about one hundred thoughts per minute which means about six thousand thoughts per hour. Over the course of a day, this is about one hundred thousand thoughts (that’s over twelve million thoughts a year!)
Much of this thinking process involves ‘self-talk’, a voice in our heads commenting, judging, justifying or planning some past or future event or action. Often the same comment is repeated over again and involves negative comments about a situation not being the way we want it to be or the way it ‘should’ have been. While all of this is going on, we only partially experience what is actually in front of us.
How many times have you travelled to work and not recalled anything that was on the route, because you were totally absorbed in thought? You were on automatic pilot – the eyes were open, but nobody was home! An important characteristic of a good leader is to be in the present. That is, to focus on the current situation without the inner self-talk, preconceived ideas and distractions that might interfere with hearing and seeing accurately what the situation is. Yet how much emphasis, training and reinforcement is given to us to clear our minds from preoccupations, worries and mental self-talk?
A helpful tool to practice being present is the Mindful Awareness Exercise. You can do the full practice when time allows (about 8 minutes), or this shorter version (up to 2 minutes is enough) as outlined below:
Close your eyes. Take a deep breath in.
Become aware of your body. Relax each muscle, starting with the legs and moving up your body.
Experience each of the 5 senses, one at a time.
Don’t try to stop your thoughts – just acknowledge them, let them pass, and bring your attention back to your listening or breath.
Make an effort to do this at least twice a day, particularly before a difficult situation or challenging work task. Gradually you will notice yourself becoming more present, aware and effective.