When I was a monk, my days began with four hours of meditation. Today, my life looks very different and the demands on my time have increased; I have my team at The Pollination Project to think of, and I am also a husband, father, and community volunteer. Even still, I make a practice of spending at least two hours in meditation each morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To many in the modern world, particularly those in business, dedicating any regular time to meditation may seem impossible given the pace of life. In fact, I often sense that stillness, quiet, and self-reflection may even be viewed by some as profoundly unproductive. We live in a world that sees value in living quickly; thinking fast, moving faster, and packing as much activity as we can into a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet this worldview doesn\u2019t align with my own experiences of leadership and growth. I continue to embrace meditative practice because I believe that pressing \u201cpause\u201d is actually more productive than constantly living in \u201cfast-forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What value is there in the relentless gathering of new experiences, knowledge, and ideas if we don\u2019t also take sufficient time to analyze and reflect on them? As I consider my best decisions as a leader, they were rarely made in haste or absent of meaningful reflection. Reactivity is not productivity; in fact, there is an inverse relationship between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One easy way to bring \u201cthe pause\u201d to your workday is to begin meetings with a minute (or more) of silent receptivity. This is how we begin all of our meetings at The Pollination Project, and I think you\u2019ll be surprised at how such a small change can help each person be more present and focused.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was a monk, my days began with four hours of meditation. Today, my life looks very different and the demands on my time have increased; I have my team at The Pollination Project to think of, and I am also a husband, father, and community volunteer. Even still, I make a practice of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n