More productive with mindfulness – 5 gentle alternatives to performance pressure

Do you finally want to write your own book, develop your business idea for a drone pizza delivery service, or just answer the many emails in your overflowing inbox? But unfortunately, your day only has 24 hours? After work, household chores, and cleaning up after the kids, there is often hardly any time left for our passion projects. We can't add more time to the day. But we can make the hours we have more effective – quite literally: more in the same amount of time. Or even more in less time.

Strategies to work more productively are everywhere. In times of burnout and  perfectionism, however, the desire for more performance quickly leads to the obsession with self-optimisation. I'd like to suggest a different path: the path of mindfulness to productivity. Mindfulness means living in the here and now. Accepting things, being open to sensations, and not judging. But how can you still make progress on things that are important to you – i.e., become more productive – with all that serenity?

Work smart, not hard. – Dr. House

1. Rev your brain from zero to om

Even when humans were running away from sabre-toothed tigers with clubs and flint, or trying to catch their fleeing dinner, they occasionally had stress and had to deliver results. Since then, humans have had to find a way to calm down and reflect again. Probably one of the best methods for strengthening concentration and thus increasing productivity has existed for a long time: meditation. It took a few hundred thousand years for researchers to actually prove: If you meditate, i.e., repeat a mantra like om in your mind or focus on your breath, you measurably improve your memory performance. Above all, your cognitive abilities increase when you work under stress and time pressure.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR, from the English Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, a combination of meditation, yoga, and the so-called body scan, in which you mindfully perceive individual regions of your body one after the other) causes areas in your brain responsible for memory processes, self-reflection, long-term thinking, and learning to grow after a few weeks.  [1] [1] Study: US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health (2010) Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain grey matter density American researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem however found in a test that even a short meditation programme brings measurable success. [2] [2] Brain research: Spiegel Online (2010) Short meditation improves mental abilities Meditating for 20 minutes each for four days is enough to be able to concentrate better. A side effect you'll surely like to take with you: The test subjects also had less fear and were less tired. So invest those 20 minutes in your time. They'll make you more productive.

But that is not all meditation can do! You can find six more scientifically proven benefits of meditation here.

 2. Leave the noise behind

Beeping WhatsApp messages every minute, the constant hum of the highway, the bubbling noise in the open-plan office – we're exposed to constant surround sound. Experts have long been certain: noise can make you sick from a continuous exposure of 65 decibels – that's, for example, the noise of clattering plates, pots, and voices in a cafeteria. [3] [3] Noise in decibels: Die Welt (2004) From the ticking of the clock to the jackhammer Allegedly, 6,000 heart attacks per year in Germany alone are attributable to traffic noise. [4] [4] Stress from noise: Spiegel Online (2014) Silence is luxury

You are always active with a certain amount of noise. Effectiveness happens in silence. – Peter Bamm

3. Become more productive by doing nothing

Now you can rejoice: You can even become more productive when you do nothing. When our grey cells don't have to solve a problem, the daydreaming brain, the so-called default mode network, activates. It keeps us busy when we are bored. In our modern performance society, it therefore has a bad reputation. Some people are practically allergic to boredom. Fittingly, in a rather bizarre experiment, test subjects even chose electric shocks over having to follow their own thoughts for a few minutes. [8] [8] Social psychology: spektrum.de (2014) Rather electric shocks than doing nothing

Our brain becomes very creative when it does nothing. Because, as brain scans prove, it is always busy. The default mode network forms new connections and sets creative processes in motion. We fantasise about the future or analyse observations. [9] [9] Neuroscience: spektrum.de (2016) The benefits of daydreaming A prominent example: The physicist Isaac Newton sat brooding in the garden under a fruit tree in 1660 when an apple fell. Newton then conceived the theory of gravity. It is still the basis for our idea of how the universe works today. Had he brooded in his study, the crucial idea might not have fallen before his feet. What the greatest minds in human history apparently already intuitively got right is now also proven by studies: Even twelve-minute breaks, during which we apparently send our minds on an aimless wander, increase creativity and the associated ability to solve problems by 41 percent. [10] [10] The New Yorker: (2012) The Virtues of Daydreaming This increase in creativity will surely help you when your next session at the laptop is looming. Occasional doing nothing can therefore lead to more productivity along the cosy avenue of mindfulness.

4. More productive by tidying up your head – mindful instead of mind full

You should tidy up a head packed with tasks and ideas before you want to be productive next time. To do this, write a to-do list in the evening after work or before going to sleep for the next day. Whether you write down your goals for the next day in a diary or on a list with "Done" checkmarks behind them doesn't matter. Instead of lying sleepless in bed in the evening and thinking about the next day, take a pen and paper and write down everything that is preoccupying you mentally. Our brains are built so that they prefer to solve our problems. This trait often keeps us from falling asleep – because we do not always find the solution, brood for a long time, and therefore feel bad eventually. This annoying nightly phenomenon even has a name: the Zeigarnik effect. It states that we can remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones. It was named after the Russian psychologist Bljurna W. Zeigarnik. [11] [11] Karrierebibel:  Zeigarnik-Effekt Unfinished sticks in the head She observed a waiter in 1927 who took several orders one after another and could remember them all without problems. After he had served the plates, he did not even know anymore whether he had cake or salad in his hand a few minutes ago. After further attempts, researchers at Florida State University found: If you write down a list of unfinished tasks, it has the same effect on your brain as if it had already completed the things. [12] [12] Study: US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health (2011) Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals   So you've organised your thoughts, sleep more restfully, and are more productive the next day. 

5. Work with your body – not against it

The best remedy from the mindfulness arsenal comes at the end. For productive thoughts, you need a body that you feel good in and that is healthy. Above all, sitting for a long time at desk work is a new phenomenon from an evolutionary perspective – because we are animals of movement. Stretching and yoga are worth their weight in gold. The pope of relaxation exercises, Bob Anderson, recommends in his standard work “Stretching” a ten-second break every three minutes when working at a desk. Every 15 minutes, a one-minute break follows, and after two hours, you should stand up and stretch for at least 15 minutes. [13] [13] Book: Bob Anderson (1996): Stretching www.amazon.de This also relaxes your brain, which not only does a good job for you, but also has to monitor your tense posture all the time. Another tip: What could be more mindful than combining a work break with a short walk in nature? [14] [14] Zentrum der Gesundheit: (2019): Nine reasons why walks are so healthy

Conclusion

If you want to become more productive, you shouldn't stand behind yourself with a whip. Instead, imagine yourself whispering motivating, but gently demanding words to a friend. Of course, it also takes a little self-discipline, goals, and intermediate steps. But with mindfulness, you torment yourself less at work and thus become more productive. Perhaps you'll even get closer to the goal of all goals: achieving more with less.

If you are looking for more inspiration: Read our post

“Productive morning routine: 8 tips for starting the day"

____________________ 

This post is by Daniel Dzienian, former journalist and word juggler. Instead of working under time pressure as a reporter for a daily newspaper, he now writes with great effort about serenity.

Sources:

[1] Study: US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health (2010) Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain grey matter density

[2] Brain research: Spiegel Online (2010) Short meditation improves mental abilities

[3] Noise in decibels: Die Welt (2004) From the ticking of the clock to the jackhammer

[4] Stress from noise: Spiegel Online (2014) Silence is luxury

[5] Study: US National Library of Medicine National Institutes if Health (2005)  Cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and respiratoy changes induced by different types of music in musicians and non-musicians: the importance of silence

[6] Welt am Sonntag: (2006) How silence sounds

[7] Bayerischer Rundfunk: (2016): Brain regions connect through sounds

[8] Social Psychology: spektrum.de (2014): Rather electroshock therapy than doing nothing

[9] Neuroscience: spektrum.de (2016): The benefits of daydreaming

[10] The New Yorker: (2012): The Virtues of Daydreaming

[11] Karrierebibel:  Zeigarnik effect: Unfinished tasks stick in your mind

[12] Study: US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health (2011): Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals

[13] Book: Bob Anderson (1996) Stretching www.amazon.de

[14] Zentrum der Gesundheit: (2019) Nine reasons why walking is so healthy