We know that it means thinking and paying attention to what we and those around us do. But what it really means is making better decisions.
It means being prepared for anything and being prepared to respond in the best possible way at any given time. It also means bringing out the best in others and bringing about the best possible outcomes.
In general, being mindful can help you prevent negative outcomes and can even save your life.
For instance, being mindful that other drivers on the road might be reckless or drunk, will make you drive much more carefully and think further ahead.
In the same way, being mindful in the workplace will help you prevent negative outcomes and even protect your reputation or job.
Being mindful of your actions and their consequences can help you maintain control of yourself in tense situations, where a bad call could see you shamed or dismissed.
Always, always, always try to see things through the eyes of those you interact with, whether they be colleagues, clients or executives.
They are all human, just like us. A good rule of thumb would be to ask yourself, how an action or reaction would affect you. Simply don’t do or say things you wouldn’t want others to do or say to you…
Instead of reacting to someone who is hostile or argumentative, ask yourself this: “What could have made react that way? Was it something I did, and if not, what else can it be?”
Even ask them what’s wrong, instead of firing back. When we understand, we respond better.
And even if we simply seek to understand, it is often enough to let the other person know we care and mean no harm, even though we don’t actually understand.
When we develop a sense of empathy and once we understand the other person, we can think ahead and know which responses are acceptable or not.
Once we can foresee, we will naturally prevent most unnecessary conflicts and create much better communication scenarios with better outcomes (for ourselves and others).
When we are able to emphasize, understand and foresee, we are able to respond instead of react. This is probably the point of everything.
Responding simply means being in control of ourselves and what we do. When we are in control, we aren’t likely to step out of line and feel insecure.
To add to all of that, reflecting on our actions and the situations in which we enacted them, means thinking about them.
It means thinking about what we did right, wrong, and what we could have done better. When we can do this, we can learn from ourselves and the situations in which we responded (or reacted).
When we are able to reflect on our responses or reactions, we can learn how to do things better. We can revise our responses in the simulation of thought.
When we are able to revise our responses, even in simulation, we can revise them in real time. And when we can do that, we can get better and better at responding well towards others.
The whole idea of mindfulness is to reduce our negative impact, increase our positive impact, progress with as little friction as possible and obtain fairly predictable career outcomes.
The goal is to progress by being our very best selves and bringing out the very best in others. When we are mindful we know what to do and what not to do. And that will make the difference in our careers.
