Perpetual Motion - It’s an idea that we are obsessed with, especially in the high performance space. It doesn’t matter if it’s business or athletics, we are constantly pushing for more, more time invested, more reps, more mental energy, none stop more. Which is fantastic, because being successful requires a sickening amount of hard work. The problem with being in perpetual motion is that we start to miss things, both internally and externally. Detecting subtle shifts in your performance or an outward relationship before it compounds and becomes a larger issue is a huge asset to have, but, to be able to do so requires time away from the grind. It requires a level of personal honesty and reflection, enter Meditation.

We have been putting a focus on meditation over the last 2-3 months after hearing so many high performance discuss using it daily and wanted to share our thoughts on starting a mindset practice. The beautiful thing about meditation is that there is no real right or wrong way to meditate, there are a variety of styles and methods and it’s your choice how you decide to experience it. We suggest downloading the app Headspace as they have done a fantastic job making it easy to get started and helping to guide you on the journey.

A Little Goes A Long Way - Like that hot sauce with 9 hot pepper logos on the side a little definitely goes a long way. You don’t have to sit down for 45 minutes with your own thoughts, start with 5 minutes and commit to being consistent on that, some days you’ll do more, some you wont. What matters is you putting aside the time daily to focus on yourself, plus it’s pretty hard to argue that you don’t have 5 available minutes during the day to meditate.

Winning Doesn’t Matter - You are going to suck at meditating, and you are going to “try harder” and that is going to make you worse, then you’ll get frustrated and think that the whole exercise is useless, but somehow still feel better when you’re done. Meditating as an exercise is unique, the goal is not to be good at meditating, it’s to do it and appreciate that you are struggling. So enjoy being terrible and still feeling good.

Huge Competitive Advantage - It’s funny that we followed up winning doesn’t matter with this point but being mental strong makes us better at whatever we do. Conflict resolution, negotiation, decision making, having the ability to remain calm and level headed as the situation escalates is gigantic for a positive outcome. Emotional control is not easy, and requires practice that can be hard to come by, especially in ‘practice’ settings, making meditation all the more beneficial.

 

By: Sylvie Tetrault