3 Meditation Techniques for Busy Professionals

According to research, most people don’t practice mindfulness techniques because they don’t know how, don’t know why it’s good for them or don’t have the time. Mindful micro practices might be a good place to start for busy professionals as they are easy, only take a minute or two and can instantly elevate your day by giving the racing mind (back-to-back meetings, anyone?) a chance to pause and refresh – like a reboot for the operating system.

Here are three of my favorite micro practices inspired by the thought leaders: Rich Fernandez, CEO of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute that started as a mindfulness program at Google; Kristoffer "KC" Carter the founder of This Epic Life, Alex Goldau the UnExecutive Mindfulness and Leadership Coach, Mo Edjlali the founder of Mindful Leader and others.

1. A minute to arrive: a powerful mini practice before starting a meeting or a new task to fully arrive and be present. What if you gave yourself and your teammates a minute of silence focusing on the breath to arrive properly? Practiced at Google, SAP etc.
2. What would be of service here? Helpful in ambiguous situations with lots of shifting priorities. It’s shown to improve mental clarity that informs decision quality and focus on what’s most important now so you’re not on auto pilot. To try this practice:

• 1 - pause;
• 2 - take three breaths;
• 3 - ask yourself this question “What would be most of service?”;
• 4 - listen to what comes up for you.
• Have a pen and paper handy so you can easily capture any new ideas or offload some thoughts.

3. How can I make it more fun? A fantastic practice from business coach Alex Goldau. If you have a project in front of you that doesn’t have you all pumped up, it’s time to find the fun! By starting asking this question: “How can I make it for fun” some gears seemingly instantly switch in the brain bringing more playfulness and creativity to the task at hand. Sometimes even remembering to have fun in the process can be enough to get a fresh perspective on things.

Do you have a favorite mini-practice that you’ve enjoyed doing and noticed good results from? Please share yours in the comments.