As seen and published in The Mindfulness App.
Today’s world of too much to do, always working, and a busy personal life, is a fact of life. But it is not always the healthiest way to live. The good news, there are ways to combat the busyness and have a healthier and happier way of being.
Due to our very busy lives we often multitask. But a study from the University of Stanford shows that multitasking is not good for you. It causes you to make more mistakes, be less creative and it takes more time to complete the task. When you multitask, you are causing your brain to task-switch or bounce around versus being focused and staying on point. This switching is exhausting. It uses up the oxygenated glucose in the brain, that is needed when you want and need to be most focused.
How do you break the multitasking habit? Mindfulness has become a proven tool that can help. As Jon Kabat-Zinn states, when you are being mindful, you are regulating your attention on what is happening in the moment and approaching your experiences with openness, curiosity and acceptance.
Mindfulness helps you to notice that you have gotten off track from what you really want to be concentrating on. Distractions are a part of what happens. We have over 50,000 thoughts a day. With mindfulness you become more aware that your mind has wandered. It allows you to return to what you were doing. Mindfulness enhances your attention, increases your ability to remain focused and helps you to ignore outside distractions.
Practicing mindfulness has shown to alter the structure and function of the brain. Thus, resulting in learning and thinking more clearly and improving your memory. In today’s workplace, it is critical to think creatively for innovation and leadership to occur.
Following are easy ways to break the multitasking habit and be more effective at work in a less stressful manner: