Nobody
wants a work colleague or, even worse, a boss who cannot make effective
decisions. In today’s hectic and unpredictable work environments we need to be
able to make decisions quickly and to get the decisions right. Wouldn’t it be
great if there were techniques out there which we could use to improve our
decision-making powers? Well the good news is that research over the last 20
years has found proof of what many of us already knew. Regular meditation
really can improve your ability to act incisively and effectively at work.
Make better
decisions
Activities such as meditation are likely to make us better
able to cope with stress. We are more likely to make the right decisions,
without letting negative emotions influence our decisions, if we have trained
our minds to work in a more disciplined, focused way. This is exactly what
regular meditation achieves.
Avoiding the sunk-cost trap
We now know
that people who meditate regularly are better able to focus their attention on
the present moment and are less likely to be distracted by ruminating over what
has happened in the past. Research shows that a group who listened to a series of
short breathing-focused meditations and were then asked to make a decision were
less likely than a control group to let sunk-cost factors influence their
decisions. An example of the sunk-cost trap is when an investment company
continues to pour money into a disastrous project simply because they have
already poured millions into it, rather than because it is a good idea.
Meditation changes the way we think
A study published in 2011 by a group of
neuroscientists found that experienced meditators were better equipped to stop
negative emotional responses influencing their decision-making. This was
because the meditators were found to activate different areas of the brain to
the control group when faced with decisions.
How to incorporate meditation into your life
The good
news is that getting started at meditation has never been easier. With a whole range of guided meditations just a click of the computer mouse away,
you’ve no excuse not to start immediately.
They reckon that to get the full benefits of meditation you should aim
to meditate for
at least 30 minutes every day. That may
seem like a big ask, but once you start to experience the positive
life-changing effects of regular practice, you’ll agree that it’s time well
spent. If you can’t manage a full 30 minutes to begin with that’s not a
problem. Even spending 5 minutes every day focusing on your breathing and
recognizing when your thoughts drift away and gently bringing the mind back to
your breathing is better than nothing. After just a few weeks of regular daily
meditation you’ll probably start to find your decision-making powers are
sharper and that you have the confidence to speak out in meetings and follow-through
your decisions.
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