Mindfulness Tips To Stay Motivated At Work

Every worker aims to achieve success at work. It may take time, effort, dedication, and other resources to accomplish the organization's goals. A key to creating a successful professional career is to stay motivated. However, there may be times when you experience losing track of where you should be heading to. You may lose focus and get distracted. This is the time you should be more mindful.

Mindfulness may seem to sound great, but it's quite challenging to be more mindful amidst a busy and demanding day at work. Imagine the scenario where you are given a tight deadline, various reports that need to be completed, emails, and calls to be answered, and several meetings to be attended. You will find yourself dealing with so many things. All these can either challenge you to become more strategic or give up due to being overwhelmed with your tasks.

What is Mindfulness?

An online source defines mindfulness as:

"Mindfulness is the practice of purposely focusing your attention on the present moment—and accepting it without judgment. Mindfulness is now being examined scientifically and has been found to be a key element in stress reduction and overall happiness."

The same article also discussed several benefits of mindfulness, such as the following:

#1 Mindfulness aids in improving physical health. Many people, including successful athletes, coaches, teachers, influencers, etc., shared that mindfulness techniques can help reduce chronic pain, relieve stress, improve sleep, treat heart diseases, alleviate digestive issues, and lower blood pressure.

#2 Mindfulness can improve your overall well-being. The ability to enhance mindfulness skills can contribute to a healthier and more satisfying life. When you are mindful, you can enjoy more of life's pleasures and opportunities. You can openly and warmly engage in activities, thus creating a greater capacity to handle adverse situations. People who practice mindfulness are less likely to dwell in worries and hesitations. They do not focus on regrets over the past or being preoccupied with failures and other concerns when it comes to developing a deeper connection with others.

#3 Mindfulness can help improve mental health. Medical experts proved that mindfulness meditation is an integral element in alleviating or treating health problems, such as depression, anxiety disorders, drug abuse, and even obsessive-compulsive disorder.

These 8 Mindfulness Tips Will Help You Stay Motivated at Work

Let's admit it. Sometimes, a busy day can significantly impact your work performance. It can create chaos and even bigger issues when it comes to your professional career. However, with the following mindfulness tips, you can stay motivated and productive at work:

#1 Learn to accept what you can't change.

Do not let yourself focus on things that will only waste more of your time and energy and then end up having more problems. Being mindful also means accepting what the present moment can offer you. How can you move on and become better if you keep exiling yourself in the past issues? Being mindful also means accepting and loving yourself. It's acknowledging that there are things you can't do. There may be tasks that are out of range of your knowledge and competencies when it comes to working. Consider delegating tasks to make sure they are finished within the required time frame. Yes, everything can be learned, but it is also essential to accept that there are times when you need help from others to complete a particular task efficiently. Learn that acceptance can lead to a significant change.

#2 Start adopting a growth mindset

Carol Dweck from Stanford University, along with her team researchers, stated that people are significantly following any of the two mindsets: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

People who have developed a fixed mindset believe that their talents and intelligence are fixed traits. Instead of taking actions to enhance these traits, they are just hoping that those traits will bring them success. They fail to develop themselves since they are holding to their belief that talent alone can lead to their success.

On the other hand, individuals with a growth mindset highly believe that they can improve their talents and intelligence when they take action and effort. For them, talents and intelligence are the foundation and starting points to succeed in life, as long as they combine them with determination and hard work. You can enhance your mindfulness at work and in personal life when you are willing to learn and show resilience against trials and hard times. As a matter of fact, mindfulness is about providing attention to the present and not giving judgment to the innate intelligence and talent.

Having a growth mindset at work will help you appreciate and use negative feedback properly. Instead of taking them adversely, you will be more willing to accept other people's suggestions and recommendations. You can utilize them to improve your work quality as you aim for personal and professional success.

#3 Be aware of the present moment

Mindfulness can also be developed when you keep yourself conscious of the present at work. Be aware of what's happening around and find out how you can contribute. Not being conscious of the people, events, and situations around you may greatly impact how you will perform on every task assigned to you. For instance, when you're preparing a report, mindfulness requires you to give your 100% attention. If not, you may make errors, and that will create problems in the future. To make sure you will be highly conscious of the present time, the best way is to start your day to be present-minded. Pause for a while or meditate, so your body and mind will be ready for the whole day's challenges.

#4 Utilize mindful reminders

Being mindful is synonymous to "remember." Because of the busy and demanding lifestyle we now have, it is difficult to stay focused and concentrated on something. Having things done on autopilot can also mean that you are not fully awake or present with more opportunities and options around you. With this type of method, your plan and creative input can be limited. It will be helpful to set up some reminders each day not to miss anything to be done. You can use your phone alarm to keep you reminded of your task lists. Hearing that alarm, you can pause for a while or become more mindful of your surroundings. This strategy is beneficial in office work because it will help you not to miss anything.

#5 You can slow down to be more efficient

There's no need to be always in a rush. Often, the more you rush on doing things, the more errors you can commit. Working slowly but surely can help you become more productive, happier, efficient, healthier, and resilient at work.

You should learn how to pause or slow down so that you can evaluate and focus on your tasks. Your brain can be more efficient and focused when it gets enough sleep. Learn to listen and reflect. Often, you can speed up your tasks by taking steps slowly and cautiously. This should also help you in making the best and smartest decisions.

#6 Be grateful

Many of us are more likely to focus on what went bad instead of those things that went well. Such an attitude can impact your work negatively. This can also result in poor thinking skills. In such cases, gratitude can be the best antidote. According to life coaches and medical experts, being grateful can have a positive effect on health, creativity, working relationships, efficiency, and the quality of your work.

With a grateful heart, we can work happily and effectively. Practice gratitude so you can feel better. Be thankful for all the things you have, whether they are big or small. Gratitude can make someone a better person by having and learning life's positive experiences.

#7 Learn how to manage stress

Stress is now a regular part of life. Yes, it can affect your physical and mental health negatively. However, the way you handle stress can make a big difference. Do not get drowned with stress; instead, do something about it. Learn how to avoid the possible stressors, whether at home or in the environment. Learning how to manage stress effectively will help you stay mindful and make better improvements in life.

For more tips on how to handle stress, you can check this post.

#8 Meditate

Learning how to meditate at work can help improve focus and concentration. There are various types of meditation, and some of them can be done while at the office. Meditation is proven to help in keeping the body and mind healthy.

Final Thoughts

Mindfulness can aid you in achieving a change in perception. It helps you become more focused and maintain a clear mind at work. There can be difficult tasks and challenges in the workplace. All these can affect your overall well-being when you fail to recognize the right actions towards them. Mindfulness can be a big help in keeping you motivated at work. Follow the tips mentioned above, and you will definitely create more achievements in the workplace.