On average, we spend 940 minutes awake a day [1]. But how much of that time do we spend completely focused? When did you last give complete attention to the task at hand, without thinking about the next thing on your to do list?
In the second of our series of blogs examining the Five Ways to Wellbeing, we focus on the benefits of taking notice and how to apply this technique to bring wellbeing to life within our job.
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With our attention becoming increasingly splintered and we find ourselves having to juggle various tasks at work, our wellbeing is suffering. Distractions in the workplace lead to an increased inability to focus [2], with multi-tasking damaging our productivity by as much as 40% [3]. This lowered productivity can then have a detrimental impact on our stress levels and even immune system [4]. Media multi-tasking, which we are often subjected to at work with our time being split between screens, has been found to be linked with symptoms of depression and social anxiety [5].
One way of helping focus our attention amidst all the noise and chaos of everyday life is through mindfulness. Mindfulness encourages us to deliberately and purposefully take notice of our thoughts, emotions and environment [6]. This is known to have several psychological health benefits. Almost incredibly, previous research has shown that happiness is impacted more by whether an individual’s attention is fully present in the moment rather than by what they are actually doing [7]. Alongside this positive benefit of being present, mindfulness reduces stress [8], improves our working memory [9] and is associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression [10]. Intentionally striving to be present in the moment allows us to savour and appreciate our positive experiences and ultimately improve our outlook [11].
Practicing mindfulness can also have an impact on our physical health, with one study providing either a mindfulness programme or the usual treatment for heart disease to two groups with the health condition. This research found improvements in cardiovascular capacity and slower heart rates in the mindfulness group [12], with further research showing mindfulness to strengthen the immune system [13].
How can we be more mindful and take notice in the workplace?
Here are three tips to help you welcome mindfulness into your professional and personal life.
1. Take cognitive pictures
Make it your mission once every day to focus all your energy on one uplifting aspect of your surroundings so that you are able to recall them again later. This could be the laughter of your friend or colleague or what the sky looks like in the morning. Try to take a mental picture of the scene which you can reflect on before you go to bed.
2. Pick-apart a daily activity
It is so easy to be thinking about something else when doing a task – particularly when the activity we are doing is mundane and routine. Try putting all of your concentration into the task you are currently carrying out. Maybe it’s that first coffee of the day, brushing your teeth or going on a run, challenge yourself to spend at least one minute simply absorbed in that activity. Why not try to look for one new thing you’ve never seen before on your journey to work?
3. Become a uni-tasker
Often at work, it feels as though we are expected to do what seems like hundreds of things at once. Studies have revealed that we spend almost 47% of our waking hours thinking about something other than what we are currently doing [7], equating to lost time. Tackling tasks one at a time however has actually been proven to be more effective, conserving cognitive energy and leading to better results [14]. Try consciously and deliberately uni-tasking as you go about your work day. Kanban boards are a great way to encourage you to this [15]. Have 3 columns on a sheet of paper, ‘to-do’, ‘doing’ and ‘done’. Use some post-it notes to write down some tasks. Only move one item into the ‘to-do’ column at a time. And only start a new activity once you’ve moved the current post-it note to the ‘done’ column.
What will you do to take more notice today?
With the majority of us currently working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic, taking notice amid this unprecedented time is becoming more difficult than ever. Tailored Thinking’s Founder and Chief Positive Deviant Rob Baker has collaborated with Gary Butterfield, Co-founder and Executive Director at Everyday Juice Limited to create a space for people to share the good things going on in their lives despite Covid-19 anxieties and lockdown.
References
1 Statista., (2019). Awake time per day in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2014, by age and gender. [online]. Statista. [Viewed 3 December 2019]. Available from: https://www.statista.com/statistics/326907/awake-time-per-day-uk-by-age-and-gender/
2 Randle, C., (2016). 24/7: Managing Constant Connectivity. In Work Pressures (pp. 30-36). Routledge.
3 American Psychological Association., (2006). Multitasking: Switching costs. [online]. American Psychological Association. [Viewed 3 December 2019]. Available from: https://www.apa.org/research/action/multitask
4 Jaffe, E., (2013). Why Wait? The Science Behind Procrastination. [online]. Association for Psychological Science. [Viewed 3 December 2019]. Available from: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/why-wait-the-science-behind-procrastination
5 Becker, M.W., Alzahabi, R. and Hopwood, C.J., (2013). Media multitasking is associated with symptoms of depression and social anxiety. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(2), pp.132-135.
6 NHS., (2018). Mindfulness. [online]. NHS. [Viewed 3 December 2019]. Available from: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/mindfulness/
7 Killingsworth, M.A. and Gilbert, D.T., (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330(6006), pp.932-932.
8 Hoffman, C., (2010). Does mindfulness increase wellbeing?. Journal of Holistic Healthcare, 7(1).
9 Jha, A.P., Stanley, E.A., Kiyonaga, A., Wong, L. and Gelfand, L., (2010). Examining the protective effects of mindfulness training on working memory capacity and affective experience. Emotion, 10(1), p.54.
10 Farb, N.A., Anderson, A.K., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D. and Segal, Z.V., (2010). Minding one’s emotions: mindfulness training alters the neural expression of sadness. Emotion, 10(1), p.25.
11 Smith, D., (2019). Mindfulness: A Positive Outlook and Taking in the Good. [online]. Mindful Schools. [Viewed 3 December 2019]. Available from: https://www.mindfulschools.org/personal-practice/mindfulness-a-positive-outlook-and-taking-in-the-good/
12 Younge, J.O., et al. (2015). Web-based mindfulness intervention in heart disease: a randomized controlled trial. PLoS One, 10(12), p.e0143843.
13 Barrett, B., et al. (2012). Meditation or exercise for preventing acute respiratory infection: a randomized controlled trial. The Annals of Family Medicine, 10(4), pp.337-346.
14 Sandoiu, A., (2019). Women no better at multitasking than men, study finds. [online]. Medical News Today. [Viewed 3 December 2019]. Available from: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326058.php#5
15 Rehkopf, M., (2020). What is a kanban board? [online]. Atlassian. [Viewed 16 December 2019]. Available from: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanban/boards
