I have volunteered for a research study Mindfulness for entrepreneurs course for 8 weeks from the 3rd October with Dr Alessio Agostinis. My life is pretty hectic: I do circa 16-20 hours a week training for triathlons, rowing, canoeing etc. I have a challenging job (which I love) and a lot of interests, including ciChange and TEDx. I read non-fiction, mostly about business, teams and psychology and have number of roles with various clubs and associations. I’m not good at stretching, relaxing, meditation or anything like that, so Mindfulness will be a challenge!
My motivation is partly because I read about business, teams and psychology and neuroscience does talk a lot about the mind, mindfulness, focus and day-dreaming, as well as sleep, relaxation and other related matters as being essential for high performance (see link 1 below).
Week 1 was a bit of a fail. My flights from Mallorca was late and when I got home very late I found the house has been flooded and the ceilings collapsed. I’d missed the inaugural session and the day was not one of tranquillity. Nonetheless I am resilient and despite a lack of food and sleep I bashed my way around the marathon course the next day before returning to sort out the chaos.
Week 2 I found that circa 50% of the people had missed the first week. Maybe there is something about entrepreneurs? I won’t go into too much detail of the course or the attendees since it is a research study and I am mindful of confidentiality and privacy.
I was really interested in feedback from one of the exercises. Some were “zoned out”, some almost asleep, others had day-dreams whilst a few appeared to stay on-task and be mindful of their bodies and the sensory activity around them. I found myself analysing the whole process: what was being said, how, why and the consequential reactions. It is interesting the mix of people who can relax and those that whose minds list, calculate, predict and judge continuously. The idea of not thinking and just “being” is very hard for me. A bit like not thinking of a BLUE ELEPHANT, the more you try the harder it is.
What I am better at is crowding out thinking by doing. I love climbing, cycling and canoeing and my sports generally consume me to the point that I am only thinking of what I am doing and not full of thoughts about work or projects. But I’m not sure that this is the same thing. Mindfulness does appear to be about bodies and the sensory activity and climbing for example demands that focus.
I am also interested in the pros and cons of day-dreaming. Mindfulness appears to be about internal focus, not mental rehearsals of things to do, people to see, problems to solve. And yet both sleep and day-dreaming are essential tools to mental house-keeping and key to memory and creative thinking. In these modes I am not blank, my day-dreaming and sleep are explorations and discoveries. They are novel, new, weird and sometimes insightful.
This week I have some skills to practice and a diary to maintain. I have to admit staying still for 25 minutes is very, very hard. I am finding it better to be mindful of myself when I am doing something so I’ve taken to doing some stretching exercises after my rowing sessions. This kills two birds with one stone: reducing the pain and tension of very tough training and allowing me to focus on myself without the distraction of work, projects, people or problems. I’m not entirely sure that Mindfulness embraces this type of multi-tasking, but it’s the best that I can do at this stage of my learning.
LINKS
http://www.amazon.es/The-Organized-Mind-Thinking-Information/dp/052595418X
THE AUTHOR
Tim Rogers is an experienced Project and Change Leader. He is founder of ciChange.org and curator for TEDxStHelier.Com . Roles have included Programme Manager for the incorporation of Ports and Jersey, and Jersey Post, as well as Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI/NatWest. He is also Commonwealth Triathlete and World Championships Rower . He has a passion for learning and has been a Tutor/Mentor for the Chartered Management Institute. He is a Chartered Member of the British Computer Society, has an MBA (Management Consultancy) and is both a PRINCE2 and Change Management Practitioner.
Tim HJ Rogers
PRINCE2 - MBA (Consultancy) - APMG Change Practitioner
Http://www.timhjrogers.com | Twitter @timhjrogers | Skype @timhjrogers | Mobile: 07797762051 Curator TEDxStHelier (http://www. TEDxStHelier.com)
Founder ciChange (http://www. ciChange.org)
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