For the month of May, we’ve been talking about Entrepreneurial mindset shift. And in that theme, today we’re talking about meditation and why you should do it. Especially if you’re a business owner. There are some amazing parallels between the practice of meditation and what it means to run a business.
When people think of meditation, at least in the old way, was that it was for “crunchy granola people.” Kind of out there and really into eastern medicine and practices. Of course now, present day, meditation is probably one of the most mainstream things out there.
Meditation is one of the ways that people are connecting with self and staying grounded.
And so, I wanted to talk a little bit about meditation, to dispel some of the myths around it. And also draw some direct parallels to how it relates to running a business.
Those of you who know, a couple of years ago, Kat LeBlanc and I ran some vision board workshops. As part of those workshops we offered a meditation exercise to help women tap into their future selves. So they can start to see that big picture vision of who it is that they wanted to be, if they truly could tap into their Source.
And that future female meditation, is also available on the site. Go ahead and check it out. It does all of these things that we’re going to talk about when it comes to a meditation practice.
Meditation is a way to do three things.
Entrepreneurial Mindset shift#1: Get Grounded
The first is to get very, very grounded, physically, but also mentally and emotionally, in terms of where you’re coming from and where your power comes from.
In most meditations, one of my favorite practices is to use a guided meditation. I’m a big fan of the Calm app, which is a mobile app that you can download and it has tremendous resources around meditation and is a good starter tool if you’re not familiar with meditating.
One of the things that happens in a guided meditation, and very frequently, when Tamara Levitt leads her guided meditations in this app, is she’ll ask you to sit in your chair with your feet flat on the floor. And to notice the sensation in the soles of your feet, where they meet the floor, to notice the sensations along your back and your thighs where it meets your chair. And then in this way, you’re getting really grounded in your position and your place in the room, and one would say even in the world. There’s this foundation, grounding thing that happens.
How this relates to your business:
Now, of course, in terms of entrepreneurial mindset, the grounding and the foundation involves how you set up your systems to run your business. Are you noticing where you’re making those connections and connecting your system and processes so that you have a smooth flow and that things can run, hopefully, one day, without you having to pull all the levers?
And that is the importance of foundation. Foundationally, in your business, we’re looking at your brand. We’re looking at your target market. We’re looking at the services and the products that you deliver and the way you deliver them that makes you different. Those are all at your foundation.
And then, on the admin side, we’re connecting all of those pieces together so it runs like a well-oiled machine.
Entrepreneurial Mindset shift #2: Get Intentional
The second thing that meditation helps you do is to get very intentional. And so, those of you who have done a high tides assessment, you know that one of the key questions that we dig into that assessment, is whether or not you’re living a life on purpose or by default. Is it by design or is it by default? Are you meaning to live your life this way? Are you conscious and present to how you are moving through the world?
And in meditation, it’s all about bringing some of that intentionality into your practice, especially guided meditations. They’ll ask you to notice what’s happening with your breath, to do counting of your breath, to be very intentional about where you choose to direct your attention.
How this relates to your business:
Now, of course, that is a beautiful segue into the entrepreneurial mindset of running your business. Are you being intentional with how you’re running your business? Or is your business running you? Which would be the definition of running a business by default. (Just doing it and reacting all of the time).
We want to get out of the phase of reacting and be more proactive in our business, which means we have a strategic plan. We have intentional three month goals, one year goals, and we’re constantly moving towards them as we set up our weekly plan and our daily agenda. All of it ladders up.
If you checked out the 90-day plan posts from the holiday season, you know that we’re talking about being intentional. Starting from taking your big hairy audacious goal and then getting it all the way down, drilling all the way down to your hour by hour activity. And that’s being super intentional. It’s paying attention to where you’re choosing to put your energy.
A lot of that feeds into what we spoke about a week or two ago around where should you be spending your time or investing your time as an entrepreneur and always, it’s to have an intentional plan in place. And of course, meditation helps you practice that intentionality.
Entrepreneur Mindset shift #3: Stay Present
The third component that is really essential to meditation is the noticing, and a lot of folks will talk about being present, staying present, creating space, and in meditation, it’s all about the noticing.
We can have all of these crazy things happening all around us, but that doesn’t mean we have to engage in all of the crazy things. Instead, we can notice those things and then decide to move on.
In meditation, the reference that you might have heard of is the monkey mind. Your brain is going over here, over there, and then you’re constantly distracted and end up being extremely non-productive. And it creates a lot of chaos in the brain, which of course, is going to drain energy.
Having to sort through chaos is really draining. There have been a lot of studies about this. Looking at glucose levels, after you have to do a lot of intentional deep thinking work, it drains on you.
And so, instead of engaging in all of that, practice noticing. Not having to engage, but just to notice.
Don’t engage. Just notice.
How this relates to your business:
And in business, of course, especially for an entrepreneurial mindset shift, it’s easy for us to go after shiny new things, the squirrel, squirrel. I think that happens for a lot of us.
Someone says there’s a brand new marketing strategy, “oh, you have to do bots, you need an online course, you should do this, you should do that,” and it’s really easy to want to engage in everything all at once, and that is not a recipe for success. Instead, that’s a recipe for ten million distractions. It’s a recipe for pulling yourself away from the intentions that you set. It’s a recipe for losing your footing and not being grounded.
Instead, I encourage you to engage in this practice of simply noticing. Instead of engaging with everybody that comes your way, instead of assuming that everything’s an opportunity, why not instead ask yourself, is this an opportunity or is this a distraction? And if it’s a distraction, then no need to engage. Simply notice that it’s a distraction and then continue with your intentional practice in running business.
The 3 Key Benefits of Meditation for your Business:
Staying grounded, feeding your intentional vision, and simply noticing are three of the key benefits that I find in meditation. I encourage all of you to try a meditation practice and see if it’s something you find valuable for yourself and for really limiting the monkey mind that can come with running a business.
It’s one of the key ways that I practice while being in self care for myself, by starting my day right. Usually very, very early. I start my day with some type of meditation practice to help ground myself, to set my intentions, to get really clear in my mind. I think about what I want to move forward with, versus what would just be a distraction.
Definitely check out the Calm app, if you haven’t. Of course, there’s a million different resources you could use if Calm’s not your jam. And after you do your meditation, feel free to let me know how it went and how your brain felt after.
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