mindfulness – Luxafor

Mindfulness: Your Opportunity To Beat Stress And Burnout In The Workplace

admin — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 06:42:18 +0000

Mindfulness: Your Opportunity To Beat Stress And Burnout In The Workplace

Stress is a growing productivity issue worldwide and we have written about stress and burnout before. This is a topic that needs to be addressed again and again until all effective methods have been found and implemented in our everyday lives.

One of the widely discussed methods of avoiding stress is mindfulness – most of us have heard this term. But do we actually know what it means, understand how to interpret it and what the benefits of practicing mindfulness techniques are?

Origins of mindfulness

Mindfulness has a long history, originating from Buddhism knowledge, where the word actually means “moment to moment awareness of present events“, but also “remembering to be aware of something“.

Bear in mind that Buddhism started during the 5th century BCE. And, if mindfulness knowledge has survived for such a long time, there must be at least a moderate amount of truth in its practices.

Fast forward to the 20th century, when Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusets that sparked the application of mindfulness ideas and practices in a more modern approach. This program originally entails three formal techniques: mindfulness meditation, body scanning, and simple yoga postures. It is based on non-judging, non-striving, acceptance, letting go, beginner’s mind, patience, trust, and non-centering.

“Mindfulness Has Been Shown To Improve Focus, Regulate Emotions, Improve Cognitive Flexibility, And Protect Against Stress. It Involves Being Aware Of Your Thoughts And Allowing Yourself To Become Fully Present,” Says Psychologist Kim Chronister, PsyD.

Mindfulness nowadays and how to use it

Mindfulness is gaining increased popularity as a practice in daily life, apart from Buddhist insight meditation and its application in clinical psychology. It has grown considerably through time and acquired many definitions, all being focused on the same value: being in the moment.

Being in the moment entails avoiding rumination (past problems), worry (future problems), and distraction (present problems). There is always space for interpretation of terms like this, but the main focus of somebody trying to practice mindfulness should stay being in the moment and avoiding irrelevant stressors.

Based on this knowledge, any office can start to work on a mindfulness program. Companies like IKEA, Ford MotorCompany, Goldman Sachs, Proctor and Gamble and others already offer Mindfulness training for their employees and it’s working out really well for them.

There are several proven techniques you and your team can use to practice mindfulness and become mindful. So read on and inspire yourself to change yourself and your company for the better:

1. Practice breathing exercises

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Your breath can be a very grounding anchor to focus on, so why not try this technique for being in the moment? An easy way to make this a habit would be to stop everything you’re doing and focus only on your breath for one minute each hour. You can just focus on your inhaling and exhaling process by making it slower and taking deeper breaths, and get more advanced over time with special breathing exercises.

Breathing exercises are a great way to manage stressful situations and the best part is- you can practice literally anywhere.
One way to do this is to try the 3-1-5 technique, which will help you practice breathing exercises. Inhale for 3 seconds, hold your breath for 1 second and inhale for 5 seconds. If you do this for just one minute each hour, you’ll find yourself more focused and relaxed, which means better alertness towards tasks at hand.

You might wish to spend a little bit of time to take a look at this post for a complete in-depth guide to the science and methods of breathing techniques that will definitely help you achieve the results you crave for! In short, the ADAA recommends taking deep breaths and counting to 10 slowly.

There is a lot of information on achieving mindfullness through breathing on the internet, and you can check out this compilation of the best practices on dealing with anxiety from real therapists here.

You can also check out the Greatist top 6 under-10-minute breathing exercises to ease your mood immediately both in work environment and at home.

2. Meditate

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Meditation is one of the most powerful techniques of mindfulness. Whether you have never meditated before, need a refresher or are just getting started, there is no shortage of books, articles, apps and free videos and podcasts available. Try getting your hands on “Search Inside Yourself” by Chade-Meng Tan or use the “Stop, Breathe & Think” app for guided sessions.

If your budget allows, it is always a good idea to invest in a meditation professional who could come in and teach you and your team the best personalized techniques to use in the office and at home.

3. Tweak your morning routine

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The way you decide to start your morning can have a major impact on how the rest of your day will go. You can start your day randomly each morning if you want. But creating a repetitive, meaningful morning routine may be the better route to take if you’re looking for the most productive and stress-free use of your time.

Try to wake up with one alarm and ditch the snooze button, then have some time to yourself to become more present. For some, the ritual of a cold shower followed by morning coffee or tea could be the perfect mindfulness practice. For others – doing breathing exercises or meditating while still in bed. And we all know that technology is a major contributor to stress.

Try not to look at your phone, computer or TV screens first thing in the morning. This will definitely help you become more aware of yourself and your surroundings. The morning routine is something you have to personalize to your own needs, but don’t forget to base it on the interest of stress-free life.

4. Unplug and set boundaries

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In such a fast-paced world it is easy to forget to relax. Deadlines, obligations, society etc are making us think about irrelevant problems at irrelevant moments.

“People Generally Need To Detach From Their Work And Their Workspace To Recharge Their Internal Resources. Options Include Walking, Reading A Book In Another Room Or Taking The All-Important Lunch Break, Which Provides Both Nutritional And Cognitive Recharging,” Says John P. Trougakos, An Assistant Management Professor At The University Of Toronto Scarborough And The Rotman School Of Management.

The only way to reach mindfulness is to remember to unplug. What it means is basically leaving everything behind for a period of time.

No brain is built to work non-stop for 9 hours. Take many small breaks during the day to recollect the thoughts and manage tasks more efficiently. And, when you finally call it a day, don’t bring work home. Leave it there and instead of worrying about deadlines on your way home, focus on your plans for the weekend.

Oh, and don’t check your work emails during the weekend or vacation. Leave working hours for work and weekends for yourself. These are the times you should completely unplug from work stressors and enjoy your free time.

5. Create rituals that enhance your awareness

Source: Luxafor

One simple rule with mindfulness is to follow through each day, not just do something once-a-week, then forget about it. It is important to practice becoming more aware of yourself and your surroundings all the time, as the more you practice it, the more it comes naturally.

The best way to do this is to create rituals that you can do every day and make sure you don’t miss a day. Start small and simple. You could start doing breathing exercises before sleep. Or you could spend 2 minutes in the morning setting the mood for the day by telling yourself a great inspirational affirmation.

Maybe you could make a ritual of drinking calming tea in the evening, and while you’re at your cuppa, thinking about the day gone by and how you can improve tomorrow. Or take your first steps towards meditating by setting a timer to 5 minutes and try to clear your thoughts and not think about anything.

It could literally be any ritual that comes to your mind, as long as you pay close attention to something during that time. Your feelings, your surroundings, the colors, the sounds, the emotions, the memories… As long as you become aware of something, in time you’ll realize that you notice more and more things. And that is becoming aware – the ultimate goal of mindfulness.

But the toughest one with creating rituals is actually doing it every day. A solution to this would be to place a motivating calendar somewhere you’d see it every day. A calendar that is designed specifically for marking off each day you do the ritual and then staying in front of you and reminding to follow through each day, so you would not break the chain.

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

The post Mindfulness: Your Opportunity To Beat Stress And Burnout In The Workplace appeared first on Luxafor.

How to make life simpler? 10 tips from crowdsourced wisdom

admin — Tue, 09 Aug 2016 12:50:41 +0000

How to make life simpler? 10 tips from crowd-sourced wisdom

Our days fill up so fast with big and small tasks, and soon we become accustomed to this kind of chaos and take it as normal. Turns out it is not so difficult to make changes towards a simpler and less stressful life.

Question-and-answer site Quora provides many advices on this topic. We have summarized Quora answers to the question “How can I make my life simpler?” and pulled 10 tips you can follow.

1. Wake up earlier

Eric Yang says that “everything comes down to the first minutes of your day” and we agree. By waking up earlier you avoid stress and can plan time for yourself. Studies have shown that early birds are more cheerful, more proactive and less likely to be depressed.

Waking up early is a common trait among many successful CEOs, so changing your routine could be something to think about.

2. Say no

There are so many distractions nowadays that can negatively influence your productivity. From checking your phone for messages and emails, to constantly agreeing to help your colleagues. To make your life simpler, you need to learn to say no to everything that doesn’t matter.

When you decide what you should be saying NO to, saying yes to the right things becomes infinitely easier. The constant interruptions in your workplace were the primary problems that we wanted to address when creating Luxafor.

3. Learn to let go

Some of us tend to control everything and everyone. But in reality we can never be fully in control, so to become less frustrated with life, we need to learn to let go. Learn which things to let go to embrace a simpler life and to be more productive.

4. Use the 10-year test

If you are stressed about something take a step back and use the 10-year test. Ask yourself, will this matter in 1 year, 5 years or 10 years? If it won’t, there is no need to stress about. You can move on.

5. Stop Overthinking

Although we try to be positive, sometimes we may slip into negative thinking patterns. We might worry about our past mistakes or over-analyse future outcomes. As Chintan Vyas wrote on Quora “Sometimes, it is better to stop over-thinking and just do it.”

If only that was so simple, but it can be managed. There are many advice online that can help you to stop over-thinking and find peace in the present moment.

6. Eat properly

The foods we eat can affect us more that we realize. While you are busy optimizing your workflow, you should also optimize your meals and snacks. Healthy eating can not only make your life simpler by making you feel better but can also boost productivity, enhance mood and increase life expectancy.

7. Be present in the moment

The temptation to multitask is high in the modern age of technology but the fact is that only 2% of population is actually proficient at it. So instead of trying to manage hundred things at once, really focus on the task at hand and be present. Mindfulness can help us navigate through our days with ease.

8. Say goodbye to comparisons

As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Comparing yourself to others is an unproductive waste of time that is not relevant in any case and can bring only discouragement. By removing comparisons from your life you make your life so much simpler.

9. Make your bed

Making your bed every single day may sound simple, but it is also one of the most effective and easiest triggers of happiness. As Charles Duhigg notes in his book, “The Power of Habit,” “making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity.” So if you want to change your life for the better, you can start with a simple task of making the bed every morning.

10. Do what works for you

There are no guidelines, tips or life hacks that work for everyone, simply because every person is different. You have to know yourself good enough to understand which advices to follow and which to skip. As Betsy Megas says, “your way doesn’t have to be the “right” way.”

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

The post How to make life simpler? 10 tips from crowdsourced wisdom appeared first on Luxafor.

5 Ways To Beat Stress at Work

admin — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:39:37 +0000

5 Ways To Beat Stress at Work

Does your workplace triggers and increases stress? How many times and hours daily do you find yourself stressing out which affects your whole productivity and steady focus throughout the day in general?

Workplace stress is serious and shouldn’t be shrugged off as “this day will pass” and “you’ll get over it”. The feeling is overwhelming and causes a chain reaction to our daily routine.

Today’s standards are increasing. Workers are expected to perform impeccably and are demanded to produce more work in a limited time. The pressure is high; plug in an unreasonable boss and gossipy co-workers, you’ll find yourself in chronic stress.

Fortunately, there are ways you can combat stress and better your performance. Time to alter your work situation and empower yourself, here are ways you can eliminate stress at work:

Fix your posture

You’ve been reminded this by your mom and teachers countless times: sit up straight!

You may be questioning this still but posture greatly affects how well you feel and do on the job. Feeling a little sluggish and tired to work? Check your posture. Maybe you’re too low and hunched over your office chair. If possible, get your hands on ergonomic office furniture for better comfort.

Good posture helps overcome stress at work. Posture trains your mind which then influences your behavior. Bad posture makes you feel more stressed; good posture gives you confidence and power to tackle what’s in front of you.

Declutter and get organized

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How do you feel when you’re presented with a desk full of clutter and high piles of tasks? It’s overwhelming and kills your mood to deal with it straight away. Why? Because it gives you little mental breathing room.

Seeing all those things at once cramps your mind, and simple stuff like that can instantly boost your productions of stress hormones.
First, purge your desk. Get rid of all things unnecessary and those of no longer purpose. Then, organize your workspace. Place all the frequently used items at your arm’s reach.

Organize and group your documents in an action filing system (e.g. “pending”, “done” and “for pick up”, etc.) and file them in a rack or storage.

Clutter implies delayed work and once the pile grows, the longer it would take you to accomplish them, and the more you’ll stress out about it.

Make a to-do list

There’s nothing more motivating than having a clear and concrete mindset of your daily tasks. Prioritize your priorities. In a world full of deadlines and fast-changing priorities, it’s vital to know what’s: urgent and important, urgent but not important, not urgent, and important; and not urgent and not important. Lookup Time Management Matrix by Stephen Convey.

Curate your to-do list by identifying projects under this matrix and focus on your respective priorities. Multitasking isn’t advisable. It may work for some but not everyone. The constant alternation between tasks only adds pressure which may slow things down in the end.

Cool down, restart your mind

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Work stress is frustrating and on several events, it ticks your anger. The heated is normal albeit can be prevented. Instead of generating a reaction or action you’ll regret later, train yourself to opt for a different technique.

Cool down and pause for a while; don’t get sucked into the “heat of the moment”. Breathe in through your mouth, out through your nose. The calming and cooling sensation will give you time to think through the situation and get ahold of it. Don’t let the anger or stress get the best of you, you control your body; don’t let it control you.

Embrace stress

It may seem unlikely (and contradicting). But like those who use their disadvantages and fear to their benefit, you can utilize stress to your own advantage.

This is the reason why some people produce better quality works when procrastinating and under pressure. Somehow, they have managed (mastered, even) handling stress effectively. Stress allows you to rise above any given challenges in certain situations. Keep in mind what your role is, your purpose, and your goal.

Resilience and proper stress management is key to eliminating tensions at work. How about you, how do you handle stress? Share your tips and advice!

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!

download pdf now

By Chie Suarez on July 19th, 2016
Chie Suarez is a writer for Office Chairs in Sydney, a company specializing in a wide selection of office furniture designs servicing large corporate businesses to small home offices throughout Sydney.

The post 5 Ways To Beat Stress at Work appeared first on Luxafor.

Infographic: The Rising Problem Of Stress And How To Avoid It

admin — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 14:09:58 +0000

Infographic: The Rising Problem Of Stress And How To Avoid It

Depression, stress, and anxiety is a growing problem globally. It is related to pressure we experience at work. Industries’ increasing pace, growing amount of information as well as pressure to perform causes personal emotional health issues.

To minimize the damage that these issues can cause it is necessary to build resilience skills. Check out how stress have become a rising problem and what steps to take to avoid burnout at work.

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