Peace of Mind: The Vital Piece of Success in Business and in Life

There are certain characteristics that make up an entrepreneur such as determination, passion, creativity, and focus. However, when you’re running a business and are up to your nose in stress, these traits can be challenging to cultivate and keep consistent.

For most of us, success isn’t simply having a great business, but also being happy and living a life that makes you proud. There’s a life hack for all of that, though. It’s called, “meditation.”

Yes, meditation. The benefits of the obscure Buddhist tradition are now stepping off the yoga mat and into the business world. Tons of entrepreneurs are carving time out of their early mornings and late lunch breaks to reap the benefits of it.

Celebrities like Russell Simmons, co founder of Def Jam Records; Robert Stiller, founder of Green Mountain Coffee Roaster; and Oprah Winfrey, CEO of Harpo Productions Inc., are also finding that a regular meditation practice helps them succeed. Here’s why:

Meditation improves focus and awareness

The main idea behind meditating is to let go of all thoughts. Your focus comes to the breath and the mind starts to relax. With that act, you train your mind to release distractions.

According to “What Are the Benefits of Mindfulness? A Practice Review of Psychotherapy-Related Research” by Daphne M. Davis and Jeffrey A. Hayes, meditation can actually change the structure of the brain.

This change can occur in thicker brain regions associated with attention, sensory processing, and sensitivity to internal stimuli. Those same changes can also have positive cognitive, emotional, and immunoreactive benefits.

Decreases stress and anxiety

A simple and effective technique for learning to meditate is to practice counting your breath. The slower the breathing becomes, the calmer the mind. As the breath eases, the nervous system begins to take that as a signal.

Conveniently, this technique can be tapped into at any hour of the day, so when you are in a stressful situation, you can take one minute to slow down your breath and feel the shift in your mood sooner than any medication could kick in.

Improves self-insight, intuition, and fear modulation

Businesses continually develop, they change with their environments, they adapt to challenges, and they fill gaps in various markets. To do this, a business owner has to grow along side their work.

Practicing mindfulness is the equivalent of taking a professional development course. Growing as a person and becoming more intuitive, insightful, and discovering greater mental strength, is important.

It can mean that you make better decisions financially and create strong connections with employees and customers.

Increased ability to stay on task

Within Davis and Hayes’ article they described research, which showed that individuals who dedicated themselves to a meditation practice had fewer thoughts that were unrelated to the task at.

They displayed improved information processing speed, and decreased task effort. Becoming self sufficient and making the most of your time each day can be the difference between attaining those new customers or not.

If you’re looking to feel fulfilled rather than drained by your work, establish a continuous practice. Try different meditation techniques until you find one that makes sense to you, and perhaps seek a professional to guide you until it becomes more fluid.

A relaxed and cognitively enhanced mind will lead to greater success in both your business and personal life.