It’s universally acknowledged that healthy employees are happier. They also happen to be more productive than their counterparts. Recent years have seen businesses cotton on to this fact with cycle-to-work schemes, office gyms and healthy food options – and let’s be honest, they have more than your wellbeing in mind. Whilst there seems to be a new health trend on the block every other week, the latest way to boost productivity requires minimal organisation and zero investment with no technical prowess required – it’s all a state of mind.
In Layman’s terms, state of mind is about understanding how the mind works so that thoughts can be dealt with in the right way, rather than allowing oneself to react to, or become a victim of them.
Adult life is commonly lived on the premise that day-to-day experiences both at home and in the office are products of the situations we find ourselves in and there’s nothing we can do mitigate the way we feel. The reality is that those experiences are solely based on the thoughts created in the mind about the situations; the mind then processes and decides how we react to them. With a simple understanding of how the mind works, we can choose to deal with our thinking in a way that is useful and more importantly, actually helpful to us as the weird and wonderful individuals that we are.
It’s not a coincidence that huge companies are investing time in understanding state of mind in order to improve the performance and wellbeing of their employees. Here are a few of techniques that you can try in the office (and at home too):
Turn down the volume
An enormous amount of our time and mind power is spent sorting through aimless thoughts that populate during our waking hours, leading to a loss of clarity and subsequent stress.
If those thoughts could instead be acknowledged on their arrival and dispatched in the knowledge that they have no value, we can think clearly allowing room for creativity and focus. You may find you become less confrontational and will work much better with others. Think of your train of thought as a conveyor belt; take what you want and let the rest pass.
Separate the wheat from the sheaf
Confidence is a trait that humans are born with, however, the confident swagger of a young child is something that is often lost as they age; over time they become distracted by insecure thoughts and mistaking them for authentic responses. Adults then work hard to reinstate that confidence, but this can often have the opposite effect, where things become less clear and situations become harder to navigate.
The key is not to ignite the insecurity by attempting to combat it, but to simply let the mind settle and find calm – hit reset and the mind will return to its factory settings.
Trust the senses
Creativity cannot be forced or scheduled. Often the best ideas arise during mindless activities such as jogging or showering. Whilst at desk level it’s crucial to gain understanding about state of mind, in order to unlock creativity when required by learning to access the place where forward thinking and fresh ideas flourish with effort.
The best ideas sessions give a buzz of excitement and ideas can appear out of the blue – as a direct result of a healthy, happy and therefore productive mind. By using positive feelings as sensors, you can navigate around productive and unproductive thinking. If you’re feeling on form, go forward. If the feeling isn’t pleasant, sit in neutral for a while. In practical terms, if creativity doesn’t flow freely, don’t push it. Take a break, forget about it for now and allow the mind to recalibrate itself for fresh thinking.
