In the past year, I have been meditating daily. One of the consequences of this is that I have stopped multi-tasking as much as I used to. For example, when I eat a meal alone, that’s all I do. I don’t look at my phone or read anything to fill the alone time. And it’s meditation that’s helped me focus on the immediate.
Turns out this is a good thing for leadership.
In a recent article in HBR on listening as a core leadership competency, it advises focusing on the people you are talking with, and really giving them your attention.
I have recently started a role in a new organisaton and am spending a lot of my time meeting new people. Really listening to people is something that is coming easier than I know it would’ve before I started training my brain cells to do one thing at a time, and to concentrate on that one thing.
I’m not sure whether all the benefits HBR suggests will actually arise for me but it feels good to give my new colleagues my undivided attention anyway. There’s a lot of talk about mindfulness everywhere I look these days so I know I’m probably just jumping on a trend here but, no matte: a year down the track, I’m actually starting to see the practical benefits of a quieter mind.