Mindful Leadership For Dummies

Chapter 21

Ten Ways to Improve Your Attention with Mindfulness

IN THIS CHAPTER

Reducing mind wandering

Practicing formal mindfulness exercises to train your brain

Checking out simple everyday mindfulness to improve your attention

This chapter brings together a number of useful mindfulness techniques that will help you improve your focus and attention. The best way to train your attention is via formal mindfulness exercises as we outline in Chapters 8 through 13. These exercises can feel repetitive (your mind wanders, you notice and bring it back, and then your mind wanders again …). This is intentional because the repetition helps you get better at managing your wandering mind and hardwires new pathways in your brain that strengthen attention.

Many leaders we’ve worked with find it difficult to practice formal mindfulness exercises while at work, which is why the WorkplaceMT mindfulness training we teach includes informal everyday mindfulness exercises that are easy to slip into your day.

In this chapter, you find both formal and informal everyday mindfulness exercises, which help you to hardwire the ability to manage your attention over time. The only difference is that formal mindfulness exercises are like taking your brain to the gym for an intensive workout, while everyday mindfulness takes less time and is less intensive.

Noticing When Your Mind Wanders

Harvard research suggests that, on average, the human mind wanders for around 50 per cent of the day. Each time your mind ...