Entrepreneurs lead busy lives. Fact. Starting up businesses, getting ideas off the ground and putting in the hard yards to succeed is all part and parcel of the entrepreneurial calling.
If you’re finding it all a bit too much, taking some time out from the maelstrom of running a business can be useful, allowing you to recharge your batteries and regain focus. Meditation for entrepreneurs is not only great for boosting performance, it’s actually pretty good for your health too.
According to Sam Wilson, Co-Founder at Virtalent:
“We love meditation. When you’re caught in the whirlwind of starting up and running a company, it’s the perfect way to step back and calm the mind. Practiced regularly, meditation can calm the mind, make you feel more in tune with the world, destress and more focused.”
The Benefits of Meditation for Entrepreneurs
Destress: The hustle and bustle of running a business can cause a good deal of stress which is why meditation for entrepreneurs is so beneficial. As we all know, stress in certain doses is good for us – if it becomes overpowering, however, it can effect performance and lead to health problems. Mindfulness meditation has been proven to lower stress levels allowing those who practice it to manage their responses to busy environments better.
Promote creativity: Clearing the mind and becoming calm and at one with the world has been shown to boost creativity. If you are struggling with an idea or plan, a few moments of meditation may well release those creative juices more effectively.
Improved focus: Regular meditation can help you focus better. Research has shown that those who meditate are able to concentrate on particular problems for longer than those that haven’t.
Lowering anxiety: As with stress, our anxiety levels rise and fall when running a business. Cutting down your anxiety levels, as any top performer will tell you, gives you more chance of staying in control and making the right decisions at the right time. Meditation is perfect for this.
Improved relationships: Because you are focused, calmer and less stressed out by the world around you, meditation means that you be able to build better relationships, not only with those close to you but with people you engage with during your business day.
The good news is that meditation is easy to pick up if you are prepared to put in some time to learn the basic techniques. There are various different types of meditation for entrepreneurs that will bring great benefits. You can focus on one particular object, traditionally something like a candle flame, though you can pick practically anything on which to meditate. Another method is to concentrate solely on your in and out breaths, paying attention to how your body feels as you inhale and exhale. Meditation involves concentrating on just one thing, pushing away intrusive thoughts and essentially quietening the mind. Think of it as exercising the muscle of your mind. The more you do it, the stronger you get mentally.
There are plenty of aids around now that can help you get into meditation if you don’t want to go to a formal class. One we use at Virtalent is called Headspace. All you need is to find a quiet corner, switch on your app or recording and relax into it. It’s best to start with short meditations of say ten minutes or so and gradually increase the time as you become more proficient. The big key is not to get impatient – the meditative skill will come; you just have to give it time.
At Virtalent, we know the importance of taking a moment or two out of a busy day and meditation for entrepreneurs is the perfect way to do this. According to Sam Wilson: “Our advice is to give it a try and stick with it for a while. It may not be for you but it just may help improve your focus and performance in ways you haven’t anticipated.”
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