Mindfulness in Action: Being vs. Doing
At work, our environments are made up of all the people around us: those we manage, those who manage us, and everyone else in the organization. We often focus on our teams and departments but in this new series, I’d like to talk about professional ecosystems as a whole and their key component: you!
How many times have you heard someone say they’re on “autopilot?” We all know what it means, and most of us have felt that way at some point – checking things off a list, but not mentally engaged or emotionally invested. It can be tempting, especially for those who are laser focused on our productivity to just focus on crossing things off our to-do lists, but being mindful with your work and your actions is the most powerful way to have an impact on your professional ecosystem. Let’s start there.
Instead of focusing on doing, how can we start each day or each new task with a focus on being?
I help my clients take an active and engaged role in their work, challenging them to switch out of autopilot and become pilots of their path. As a coach, I’m here to be your co-pilot—reminding you of your individual strengths and helping you apply these mindfully to each part of your journey.
Strengths & the Co-Active Coaching Model
In addition to my Strengths approach, I coach using Co-Active Leadership model-informed methods. The essence of the co-active experience is that all action (doing) needs to be grounded in something meaningful (being). If we constantly execute, without a clear sense of why we’re doing something or how it fits into the bigger picture, we limit ourselves to our lowest capacity: that dreaded autopilot mode.
To help each client operate at their highest level, I utilize a 360-degree approach to identify their individual talents and to inform how I coach them to reach their highest potential. I structure each engagement to be highly collaborative and wholly personalized using a framework designed with tools for ongoing support.
Being and Doing
We’ve spoken about the importance of your approach to your work: incorporating awareness and intention into your tasks (being) and moving out of autopilot (doing). Here are three ways you can put this into practice:
Begin each day with purpose.
Consider the things on your to-do list for each day, and expend some mental energy asking yourself why each needs to be done. Each task, no matter how small, should be connected to a larger purpose that should ultimately align with your role or organizational mission.
Spend part of each day focused on taking in the climate around you, being aware of the bigger picture.
If you are at work, make time to talk to your colleagues and direct reports, ask questions. Try to assess the mood and environment in which you operate each day. Gaining an understanding of your impact on your ecosystem and an appreciation for the holistic health of that environment will give you insight into problems and opportunities for growth or success you might otherwise miss.
Learn how your unique strengths impact the way you respond and react within your environment.
Our individual talents guide the way we interact with our work and our colleagues. Spending time learning about your Strengths will make you more aware of your talents and potential blind spots. Gallup offers in-depth overviews of every one of the thirty-four talent themes on their podcast if you’re curious to find out more directly from those who share your talents.
It’s not always easy to reverse a habit of focusing on the here and now in order to take a look at your surroundings as a whole but leaders who take time to slow down and assess their professional ecosystems benefit from higher productivity, deeper work satisfaction, and a greater sense of overall purpose.
If you’re ready to try some new ways to boost your career health, personal satisfaction, and invest in your long term career growth, I’m here to help. Sometimes it takes a bit of outside guidance to discover what’s working and where there are opportunities for positive change within.