The leader’s mind is cluttered with ideas for several reasons. So we will give you a few exercises to help you focus, and even make conversations run smoothly with difficult people.
Information Technology leaders encounter difficulties in various aspects of their work, such as dealing with people, processes, budgets, politics, timelines and technology, and reconciling these demands can cause confusion.
One way to manage all of these types of stress is mindfulness, which is the practice of focusing awareness on the present moment and recognizing and accepting the feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations that occur in it as a way to calm or clear the mind.
“To have a few very practical mindfulness exercises that they can use at any time can help leaders better manage all these stressors and engage their teams,” says Wendy Quan, founder of The Calm Monkey ,a platform that provides mindfulness training to individuals and organizations. “Practicing mindful leadership pays off in creating a more engaged team,” continues Quan.
Mindfulness exercises help you raise awareness of what is happening inside and outside yourself and get out of the self-control mode in which you used to do things automatically, so you are hardly free from a problem before you are faced with another one.“It is attention-training,” says Quan, who has worked with large organizations, starting with Google. “If we are able to dwell less in the past or worry about the future, it allows us to be more in the present moment, giving attention and focus to what we are doing in the moment. Practicing mindful leadership, giving your full attention to those you lead, pays off in creating a more engaged team.”
That offers a variety of results, from calming to life-altering, says Quan, who adds that the IT managers and leaders she has worked with have been staunch advocates of these practices.
Here are some clear mindfulness exercises that IT leaders can learn to take advantage of when needed:
When to use it: When your brain has trouble getting all the things you need done.
How to do it: Stop and ask yourself: Do I need to think about this right now? “This simple question draws your full attention to observing what is going through your mind,” Quan says. “Pause just for a moment and see what your thoughts are and what is stressing you out.” Then, decide which of these thoughts are effective and which are not. Effective thoughts serve a purpose, such as planning an agenda, whereas passive thoughts serve no purpose, but cause tension, such as remembering a previous conversation over and over again.”
When you give yourself time to acknowledge and categorize your thoughts, you can then consciously choose what to do about them. “If the thought has no value, choose to think about something else,” Quan advises. For example, instead of thinking about how to deal with a difficult employee, devote this mental energy to something that will benefit you.
The benefits: This mindfulness method is a great way to clear your mind, and it is one of Quan’s favorites for dealing with the “monkey mind”, which is a term for an unstable, restless, or disoriented mind, with endless internal conversations that cause stress.
When to use it: When you are waiting for a meeting to start, want to make a fateful decision, or waiting for the elevator or at the airport.
How to do it: “Mindfulness exercises often use the body as a way of becoming present. Take advantage of all those short moments of waiting during the day to switch your attention to what you are feeling in your body at this present time,” says Quan.
There are several ways to get your full attention to your body sensations. First, take several conscious deep breaths from your chest down to your stomach, and you can, if you want, count in your mind (if the waiting period is short, stop, and take a few breaths for a little while to help you regain your focus), says Quan. And as a result ,you may simply feel your body weight on the chair you are sitting or feel your feet on the ground.
You can also notice the position of your body. For example, do you feel cramping in your torso, abdomen or shoulders? Do you press on your jaw? “Check in with where you might be holding tightness in your body, then release it,” says Quan.
The benefits: These techniques can do an amazing job in relieving physical tension, says Quan. Not to mention that they give your mind a break from a busy day and make you feel more relaxed.
When to use it: Anytime you have to interact with people you don't like.
How to do it: “The quality of your interactions with others can change dramatically when you give them 100 percent of your attention in a non-judgmental way,” says Quan. So the next time you have a meeting with a difficult person, make an unwanted phone call, or have a discussion with an uncooperative business partner, remove all your preconceptions about the person in that interaction. “No matter how stressed or busy you are, notice how the other person is behaving, their facial expressions, their animations, their emotional state,” says Quan. “Pay attention to them fully so they feel seen and heard.”
The benefits: While we don't like being around annoying people, many people report positive shifts in their work and personal relationships once they start doing this exercise, says Quan.
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