The Corporate Jungle - A Place for Meditation?

So you’ve worked hard all your life, beaten all the competition and finally found that well-paid job. You already know that big business can be a pretty cut-throat place. You’ll need to have all your wits about you to successfully navigate the political machinations of others and to cope with the relentless long hours, not to mention actually getting on with doing your job.

A new breed of successful executive is emerging. This 21^st-century business leader is the type who doesn’t seem to make enemies. Even rivals admit that they’re good at their jobs. They are likely to believe in clean living and manage to tactfully avoid the pitfalls of heavy drinking and partying which often form part of the corporate culture. The chances are strong that this person meditates. Here are some of the reasons why meditation can help you survive and achieve your goals in the corporate jungle without losing sight of your soul.

What meditation can do for you

Have you noticed how some individuals don’t seem to let stress get to them? They see situations which others would regard with horror as positive challenges to be faced with enthusiasm. One of the most immediate effects you’ll start to experience once you start practicing meditation is a decrease in your stress levels. This is because regular meditation has been shown to affect the regions of the brain that trigger the “fight or flight” responses to stress. Starting your day listening to a guided meditation will clear your head and strengthen your cognitive function.

You’ll also find that you become more focused and much less likely to fall into the trap of excessive multitasking. A study at the University of California in Santa Barbara found that participants who had practiced meditation for as little as 2 weeks were more focused whilst completing cognitive tasks.

If you practice regular meditation you might begin to find that you start waking up earlier in the morning feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead. It appears that meditators need less sleep than others.  Think how much more you could achieve in life if you felt fully refreshed and alert after six hours sleep.  It would more than make up for the time you set aside each day to practice.

Will I lose my edge?

You might worry that if you start meditating you’ll lose your edge. In a world of survival of the fittest, might there be a risk that meditation will make you less thrusting and more detached from what’s going on around you? Actually nothing could be further from the truth. Whilst it’s true that meditation might make you more empathic and incidentally kinder to yourself, it will actually increase your mental strength and resilience. So on balance, there’s nothing to lose. It’s really time for you to learn how to do meditation. Your long-term career could benefit in all sorts of unexpected ways.