Thankfully, in recent years, companies have consciously invested in the happiness of the people who work for them. That’s not to say that many businesses don’t have a long way to go in this regard, but conscious businesses are on the rise for sure.

Why are they doing this? What is the reason for this trend? In many cases, one would hope, it is human decency. Perhaps companies are simply starting to care about the workplace wellbeing of their employees. Who knows. It is also because employees having purpose at work is simply good for business. It makes companies more productive, more profitable, and frankly, nicer places to work.

Let’s expand on why having a sense of purpose, beyond financial gain, at work is crucial.

1.     Motivation

Employees who like working for a business are simply more motivated. If they like their work, like their co-workers, and feel that their values align with the people they are working for, they are likely to work harder for them. They want the business to succeed.

2.     Engagement

If employees are meaningfully engaged with the values and the goals of the company they are working for, they will not only do the job that they are assigned to, but they will often bring their best energy and ideas, and actually add value that is unique to them.

3.     Low Employee Turnover

People who like the job stay in the job for longer. High employee turnover drains resources from your business, wastes productive time on training that could be used for other things, and creates instability in the general ecosystem of the daily running of the business. Ideally, you want people to stay. Also, having a reputation for low employee turnover, and therefore a reputation as somewhere that people want to work, will attract talent. The best people want to work for the best companies that hold their wellbeing as important and will appreciate their skills and experience.

4.     Resilience

When employees feel stable in their work, and feel accomplished, appreciated and clear in their career direction, they are much more able to sustain themselves through rocky patches, both at work and in their own lives. This has a positive impact on their mental health and their ability to bring their best into the workplace, even in comparatively turbulent times.

5.     Loyalty

No matter where an employee is on the ladder of your business, loyalty is useful. You want people working for you who will defend your brand, work to uphold and grow your business, and stick around when sticky periods arise (as they do in every business).

6.     Flexibility

Purpose can be found when the other parts of someone’s life feel looked after. If you, as a conscious employer, can be flexible to the other needs of the people who work for you (family emergencies, working around children, holidays, sickness, etc.), they will be flexible and go the extra mile for you in times of need. I, for example, am very grateful to my employer when I need to extend a deadline or go and pick one of my kids up because they are sick. In return, I am always happy to pay that kindness back by squeezing in an emergency, time-sensitive project, or working the occasional weekend if needs be.

7.     Positive Image

If people associate happy employees with your company out in the world, it simply makes you look good. The people who work for your company will walk about in the world, and have only good things to say about you, and that can only be a positive thing.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 3 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Why Purpose is Important at Work appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

There are places that help me to be productive and there are places that don’t. For example, my productivity is at its best when I work out in the world… in a café or library or something. This is because I work from home, and often find getting to task so close to my relaxation space (my desk is in the living room, not far from the sofa and TV) is far too distracting. I’m more likely to scroll here as well. Being somewhere with less distraction and that, in effect, I am paying to be in some way, helps me to use my time productively.

Knowing what works for you personally is worth being conscious of. My perfect productivity environment will not be perfect for everyone, that said, my go-to tips and techniques are pretty universal. They are worth a try if you are in a rut, even if they don’t work 100% of the time.

1.     Phone Jail

My phone has driven me mad this past year. With so little to do, I felt extremely conscious of how drawn I was to it. so much time was wasted on doing so little because of that phone!

Now don’t get me wrong, phones are brilliant. But they are also a real drain. When working I have taken to locking my phone in a drawer. Out of sight out of mind. When I do this, not only am I more productive, but I feel so much freer and clear-headed. Find a place for your phone to quarantine. You won’t regret it!

2.     A Lovely Set of Headphones

When working from home distraction is rife! One of the best things to do it invest in a pair of good quality headphones, that dumb down or even eliminate any external distracting noise. For me, even if nothing is playing through them, it helps me to narrow my world down to include just the task in hand.

3.     Audio Ambience

I find that I like to have some kind of noise when I am working. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it makes the world seem less still, or perhaps it feels less lonely? But what I do know, is that it helps me to block out other distractions. Music, I find, is too interesting… I find myself flicking through tracks or singing along. White noise, meditation music or classical ambience make for excellent workmates. This type of ambience relaxes and focuses you at the same time. For example, I am currently listening to a playlist of rainfall, and am absolutely sailing through this article!

4.     A Diary: The Old-Fashioned Kind

I went back to keeping a paper diary last year. Of course, it being 2020, the diary did not end up as full as I had hoped. That being said, it ended up being an extremely valuable tool.

As brilliant as digital calendars are, there is something a little disconnected (ironically) about them. He connection between what you are writing and your cognitive focus on the content seems to be stronger when written by hand. There is also something precious about a diary, something personal. It is something I long to utilise, as opposed to the calendar on my phone which feels very clinical; something which I have no particular love for.

My diary contains creative thoughts, emotions, financial plans, to do lists, appointments, and pictures; it truly is an external hard drive for my brain, somewhere to keep thoughts when you don’t seem to have space left. I recommend you try it!

5.     A Chair

Discomfort makes it extremely hard to work well. The 21st century contains many more people with back problems than the century before, largely because of bad posture from sitting at desks. A decent ergonomic chair might be worth the investment just to be able to work in comfort and concentrate without being distracted by a clicking neck or an aching back. A wise investment to encourage daily resilience.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post My Go-To Accessories for Productivity appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Work is a hard place to have hard conversations. Workplaces are focused on results and time-sensitive outcomes, and so there will always be stress flying around the place, even if not all the time. It is also tricky to have difficult communications with colleagues as these are the people you are contractually obliged to share a workplace with for the foreseeable future. The last thing you want to do is end up poisoning a relationship.

So, in the spirit of approaching awkward issues with people at work in a mindful and conscious way, here are a few tips…

1.     Don’t Let It Fester

If there is a problem between you and another person… an unspoken one… don’t avoid tackling it. Similarly, if there is something irksome that you need to tell someone, don’t put it off. In the former case, the passive tension is only going to get worse. You might wish for the problem to go away, but that will blow up in your face sooner or later. Tackle the issue before it gets worse.

In the latter case, again, the longer information is withheld, the more damaging it is likely to be when you inevitably have to pass it on. In summary, difficult conversations are like ripping off plasters; better to rip it off and get it over with.

2.     Plan the Conversation

If you are like me, you can get derailed in tough interactions easily. Go into the conversation knowing exactly what you need to say, exactly what your considered position is, and try b not to deviate from your chosen path too much. This should help you to keep the communication short, concise, and relatively painless.

3.     The Other Shoes

Whatever the news that you have to deliver, or the altercation you might need to have might be, always consider what it is going to be like to be on the other side of it. This will help you to be sympathetic to the other party, and therefore to frame your approach in a way that is less likely to upset either side.

4.     Facts

Conjecture, opinions, and vagueness are not your friends here. Try to stick to facts, and not to make any personal swipes not based on solid evidence.

5.     Co-Solve

Of course, it is a good idea to come into these conversations with an idea of how is best to solve it. It is also a good idea to make sure these ideas are said out loud. However, if you can work together with the other side to come up with a conclusion that you are both equally happy with, then so much the better. There is nothing wrong with debate and being on the other side of something to somebody else. The real gold in any working relationship is to work out how to compromise, and to be able to resolve issues together, despite differences of opinion.

6.     Follow Ups

If you are aware that the news you have delivered may have been tough to take (or even if, on the front of it, the news was taken very well), always follow up. Check on how the person is doing, and if there is anything you can do to prop them up now that the dust of your interaction has settled. People often don’t know how to react to awkward news in the moment, and so may not come out of a rough conversation with a solution they are actually OK with. Indeed, this follow-up conversation might actually be a better time to solve the problem than the time of the initial communication.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Learn To Meditate With Neil In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.

2. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Coaching Partnership or Professional Wellbeing Appointment is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil Seligman here.

3. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Managing Difficult Workplace Conversations appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

A few years ago, I was watching an interview with a recently retired speaker of the house of commons, John Bercow. When asked about the state of politics, and indeed the world, he lamented that we, as a nation, seemed to have lost the ability to disagree agreeably.

Debate, argument, and opposition are essential to progress. Ideas must be challenged, inspected, and pulled apart in order to find the best solutions that benefit the most people possible. In order to do this well, we must be able to debate without hatred or argue with somebody without falling out with them. we are not all the same, and even people we are close to will have some differing opinions. Not taking such differences of opinion personally and listening to them with empathy and openness is one of the keys to unity and progress.

So… some thoughts on how to disagree agreeably.

1.     Listen

The cornerstone of all successful communication is to listen. Not just to hear what the other side have to say, but to consciously listen, and process what they have said in a meaningful way. What is especially important in a confrontation or debate is then to address the concerns of the other side in your next. By doing this you signal that you have taken in their thoughts and ideas and are respecting their input by offering a retort.

2.     Let The Other Side Finish

An important part of listening is to listen to the opposition in full. Do not cut in or halt their argument. To do these disrespects them, which implies you do not think of them and their position as equally important as you and yours. This can derail a debate and, perhaps more notably, sour it into something that is jarring beyond the relevant disagreement.

3.     Do Not Get Personal

When in the heat of the moment, the passion of the debate, one can get carried away. Especially if you feel that your side of the debate is not holding as much weight as you’d like, it can be tempting to slip into a personal attack. Do not do this, under any circumstances. First of all, it is not kind. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind. Second, this muddies the clarity of what you are debating. Stick to the subject in question.

4.     Empathy

Really try and see things from the perspective of your duelling partner. Even if you disagree with them entirely, you must be mindful of the fact that they believe in their argument for what is probably a very good reason. Being able to empathise with them, and communicate that you understand where they are coming from will help not only endear you to them but will aid you in being able to relate your point of view to their personal situation.

5.     Back Up Your Arguments

If you have an argument, show evidence for it. It’s easy to have an opinion. Everybody has an opinion. But opinions are flimsy. If you make your arguments robust with real evidence, then your argument will be stronger, clearer, and easier to debate effectively.

6.     Try to Be Open to Change

If you go into a disagreement hell-bent on not changing your mind, you will not listen properly, nor take the time to actually consider how the ideas coming from the other side of the debate make you feel. Most arguments at work require a solution to move forwards, so you must be open to working with the other side, weighing up all arguments, and the possibility of compromise. Be assured in your own point of view, but do not close yourself off from learning or shifting in your own point of view.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post How to Disagree Agreeably appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Mindfulness is as much a tool for our own wellbeing and mood as it is for our ongoing ability to be present, effective and productive. Workdays are often busy. They build momentum, tasks and thoughts build up in our heads, and mindful moments are the last thing on our minds. Indeed, the idea of mindfulness is probably even further back than the issue of what you are going to have for dinner that night.

Finding time for mindful moments at work might feel frivolous. They might feel indulgent. It may even feel like they are taking valuable time away, resulting in you getting less done than you might have had you not stopped to be mindful for a moment. However, it is not an indulgence. It is a tool. A happier, calmer, more mindful you, is a more productive you. Ultimately, mindfulness is something that will aid you in your work.

Yet still… how do mindful moments fit into the workday? What do they look like? How will they help?

Let’s take a look…

1.      Single-Tasking

Single-tasking plays into the idea of living in the present moment. When we try to multi-task, we often end up not completing the multiple to our fullest potential. This is because each task will require its own unique effort, train of thought and skillset. Therefore, you are ultimately slowing down the process by flitting between tasks and processes. By focusing on one task at a time, you put all of your concentration onto each task, complete them well, and ultimately, bring down the cumulative time taken for all the tasks, completing them in a calmer, more linear, fashion.

2.      Strip Down, Slow Down

That leads me to this. Strip down your thoughts. Try not to worry about the next thing whilst completing the current thing. Try and strip your mind of the unnecessary clutter of worrying about what comes next. You can do that when the current one is done. Also, and this will seem counter-intuitive, slow down. Take care over your tasks, ensuring you complete them calmly and steadily. When we rush, we make mistakes, which ultimately leads to more time spent on rectifying mistakes… which also adds to stress. Take it all down a notch.

3.      Move Away for Mindful Moments

If, like me, you find yourself staring at a screen, stuck or not knowing what to do next, take a break. And when I say that, I mean move away from the workspace. Go and do something completely different. At home, my mindful moments include washing up, vacuuming, playing a computer game for ten minutes and messaging a friend to ask how their day is going. Disconnect your brain from your frustrating task. When you return, you will be able to look at it with fresher eyes. I often find my brain seems to have worked out the problem without me even trying.

4.      Accept Stress

Try not to get frustrated by the presence of stress. Stress, just like love, fear, happiness and frustration, is an involuntary human response that comes to us all. Accept it with open arms and you may be clear-headed enough to work out what it is that you can do to ease it. stressing about stress just adds more stress until you eventually crash.

5.      Get Comfortable with Adaptation

One thing that can cause a lot of stress is when your course is corrected by circumstances, or people, outside your control. Being comfortable with ever-changing situations will not only help you to be generally less stressed and anxious, but it will also help you to become more creative and reliable. Instead of fighting change, it is best to accept it and attempt to move with the current. You never know, you might even be able to influence the next change in the situation yourself, adding value to the workplace.

6.      Try to Control Only What You Can Control

As I’ve already touched on briefly before… and it’s a phrase you have no doubt come across already… but, worry only about what you can control. We all spend time worrying about things in which we have no influence on the outcome. By making your world of worry smaller, you are helping yourself become more resilient and more productive.

7.     A Culture of Mindfulness…

It is also worth saying that, even if you do not promote mindfulness directly, demonstrating a mindful approach in your workplace will, eventually influence others. By demonstrating it, you helping your workplace community move towards a goal of more shared mindfulness and wellbeing.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Mindful Moments for the Workday appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Perhaps we need a Tech-Vet to treat our ailing algorithms and teach them how to play nicely with humanity? Certainly, if they were human, we would be prescribing a mix of therapy, mindfulness, and pharmaceuticals. In the more severe cases, a residential stay might be in order.

Most at risk in this digital dystopia are youngsters – growing up in a sea of influencers, filters, and distortions. Fledgling democracies too find themselves at risk of their whole experience of the internet being owned by commercial corporations with high-dollar agendas that may not align with their human interests.

The unbridled success of big tech revenues has come at a high cost to the world. The relationship between social media algorithms and humanity is now toxic. Increasing mental and societal dysfunction turns out to be, not just unwanted by-products of their productivity, but the end game.

Facebook began with the motto: Move Fast And Break Things and if measured by this yard-stick they have been enormously successful. Democracy is broken. Mental Health is broken. The Algorithm is broken too.

Perhaps you have seen The Social Dilemma, or read some of the latest whistle-blower testimony? Or, perhaps the terrifying array of new cyber-lingo has left you cold and the thought of actually Googling ‘what are trades in human futures?’ gives you the chills. We are certainly in strange territory.

I suppose if we zoom out for a moment, the path to technological maturity (let alone mastery) for any civilisation, was never going to be easy. This moment may not be the worst of what comes before we discover a kinder way to expand technologically. To me, it feels a bit like that moment when a group of friends decide to stage an intervention for their bestie – letting them know honestly and directly that their drinking is out of hand and that it is time to own up and get help. Just like our friend, Facebook will need to acknowledge that it has a problem before it can begin to fix it.

To paraphrase former Facebook employee, Frances Haugen’s words:

It is time for Facebook to declare moral bankruptcy, to say that they are in over their heads, and to ask for help. If they can do that there is a path available to healing…

As we wait to see how the governments of the world grasp this sprawling nettle, I can only hope that two things happen very quickly, in order to mitigate some of the damage of polarisation and tend to the bruised mental health of humanity:

1. Social Media Regulation (preferably by global agreement) must be brought in so that governments have the power to force changes to social media companies that cause harm by failing to follow ethical rules and practices.
2. A new (preferably global) tech organisation needs to be established which has the capacity to track the impact of social media companies on humanity in real-time. Tech historically moves significantly quicker than government – yet that norm must now be reversed if we are serious about public safety, minimising misinformation, and cultivating harmony in place of polarisation and conflict. Move Faster And Prevent Harm could be its motto. To be successful it must attract the most conscious and brilliant tech talent in the world.

In the meantime, as we wait to see how this plays out, hoping for conscious action yet braced for delay and obfuscation, here are three ways that we can individually and collectively do our bit for digital wellbeing today:

1. Bring back your tech-free zone. Covid set many of us back with our digital hygiene. Still, the most revolutionary lifestyle change is to keep part of your home (like your bedroom) tech-free. Try it for 3 days and notice the difference in sleep when your phone isn’t on your bedside table.
2. Recent revelations have focused on the dangers of Instagram, particularly for young people and especially young girls. When you use the platform next, tune into the energy that arises as you scroll. Does it feel enriching or depleting to you? What changes can you make?
3. Consider signing the Center For Humane Technology’s: One-Click Safer letter. It aims to make re-shares on Facebook a little bit harder. (Friction-free re-shares currently account for a significant proportion of divisive and harmful content worldwide). This is one small platform tweak that research shows would make a large difference: https://www.humanetech.com/oneclicksafer

And let’s also remember that social media can be uplifting and inspiring. We just need to create a playing field where this potential has the chance to manifest. Perhaps even the algorithms will be happier, once they return to health.

By Neil Seligman

Neil Seligman offers Digital Wellbeing talks and workshops through The Conscious Professional. Enquiries to: info@theconsciousprofessional.com

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post The Algorithm is Sick appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Conscious leadership is now more important than ever. When working out your constantly changing work environments, it is not always easy to put employee wellbeing first when you have logistics, numbers and contingency plans coming out of your ears! However, your employees are the lifeblood of your business, and their lives have also become more complicated over the past 18 months.

So, as more and more people are returning to workplaces, and your offices are starting to see the hustle and bustle of working life return, ensure that the people that work for you are happy and comfortable with how things are being managed. Having people back ‘in the room’ with you will take some adjustment, as well as catering to their requirements, but this will always pay dividends in the long run!

1.     Keep Your Employees Informed

This is not new when it comes to conscious leadership. It is always important to make sure that your team is in the loop with any decision or issue that affects them in any way. Within their roles, employees will organise their time based on what information they have. Getting information late, through the wrong channels, or indeed, not at all, leads to a multitude of problems, the most pressing of which is damage to the trust they have in you as a leader. Keeping them in the loops also implies that they are respected as part of your business and that you trust in them as employees as well.

Also, as people are getting used to the stamina required to get through a full working day, both physically and mentally, having all the information they need in a timely fashion will lead to much less stress and anxiety within your workforce.

2.     Come Through on Promises

This is another cornerstone for trust, but also a way to ensure that you feel like a team. Not following through on promises will only drive your employees away, and therefore make them less inclined to put their energy into your business. Employee wellbeing does not necessarily depend on pandering, but rather them feeling that they are needed and respected as part of your team.

3.     Flexible Working

Now, more than ever, people have complex needs when it comes to managing their lives as a whole. After this year, some people will have setups that work much better for them when they work from home. Consider being open to the flexibility when it comes to working hours, and whether it is mandatory to work in your actual workplace all of the time. Do your best to work with your employees to ensure the best working arrangements for you and for them.

4.     Promote A Healthy Work-Life Balance

Try to enforce a good work-life balance for your employees. As a conscious leader, you will understand that a well-rested employee is a happier and more productive employee. Having an employee work overtime and not rest properly, is not necessarily better, in terms of quality of work and efficiency, than having an employee work strictly within contacted hours. Also, it is much nicer to have happy people around you than it is to have stressed and tired people around you, right?

5.     Positive Reinforcement

It is all too easy to point out blunders and forget to praise success. This is often because successes are not things that need ‘fixing’, therefore pointing out success doesn’t always feel like a good use of time. However, this makes your employees feel appreciated and cared for, which, on an ongoing basis, makes for a happier, more confident, and more empowered employee.

6.     Make Them Part of The Company’s Journey

Employees know your business very well, and likely know things about the way that it works that you do not. Use this to your advantage and give your employees a say in how your business grows and moves forward. This, again, is a huge vote of confidence in your team and is a good way to have them invest in the business’s direction. Also, on top of this being a way to look after employee wellbeing, it may also make your business a richer and more nuanced enterprise than if the vision is cast by just a few people at the top, who see the company from a similar angle to you.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Conscious Leadership: Pastoral Care When Returning Your Team to the Workplace appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Many of us are back at work after either not working in a familiar work environment, or indeed, after not working at all for a while. Even back in ‘normal’ times, it was important to take care of ourselves at work and to find ways of boosting our workplace resilience. However, we are now, I think it is fair to say, as a people, a little more emotionally venerable.

Although it is a good conscious business practice to put some focus on employee mental health and morale, you must also be conscious to do things for yourself, and put boundaries in place, that means you are at your best when at work. Here are a few care tips you may wish to have in your mind going forward.

1.     Don’t Go Overtime

 I know myself, as a freelancer, that working beyond mandated hours (whether set by me, or by an employer) can happen all too easily. If reasonable working hours have been set, and especially if they are contracted, stick to them. Your resilience and mental health rely on a healthy work-life balance. Ultimately, working unpaid overtime eventually leads to fatigue, making it hard to execute your job to the level to which you are capable. 

2.     Separate Home and Work

 In this world, where we are connected to communication devices 24 hours a day, the lines between business and leisure have become increasingly blurred. I sometimes find myself, without even stopping to consider, answering work emails a 10 o’clock at night! If you are not at work, do not engage with work. You can’t care about work 24 hours a day! Emails can wait until 9 am tomorrow morning. Maybe even put a block on your account or ensure that you can only access work communications through the devices you use for work. Leave work where work should be left… work!

3.     Take Breaks

Breaks are there for a reason. Our brains need rest and refreshment. Indeed, breaks make it easier to work faster and more efficiently. If I am struggling with a task at the end of the day, I often leave it until the next morning, because I know that the task will take me half the time and will require half the stress if I do it after a nights sleep. Breaks, on a smaller scale, do the same thing. So, if you have the flexibility to take breaks when you need them, take them. Don’t be proud!

4.     Make Mindful Use of Your Breaks

Indeed, when you do take your breaks, use them wisely. How many of us grab our lunch and eat it at our desk, or in the same room, we have been working in all morning. Go out and find somewhere different to be, somewhere that lifts your spirits and connects you with the outside world. Perhaps there is a wonderful park nearby, or perhaps there is a grand building that you can sit in and marvel at (I am currently in Edinburgh, and often go and sit in the National Museum just to soak up the architecture). Or maybe there is a café where the owner knows your name and your order. Really make time for yourself when you are on a break… any opportunity to give some time to your own resilience and wellbeing.

5.     Eat Properly

 Our brains don’t only benefit from breaks and rest, but proper fuelling and nutrition. To get you through the day feeling productive and positive, ensure that you feed yourself consciously, and listen to what your body is asking you for. If you have the resolve to eat something ‘super healthy’ one day, then great, go for it. However, some days, on tougher days, you may wish to give in to a treat or two, for the sake of taking care of your soul and comfort.

6.     Know Your Signs

Self-awareness without judgement of the self is a really useful skill to learn. It means that you can see the signs in yourself that lead to behaviours you may not be the biggest fan of. If you can learn what your signs are, and work out ways to combat them, you will find navigating the stress of the workplace a great deal easier.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Taking Care of Yourself at Work appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

 So, now the world is slowly opening up again, and people and businesses are starting to move back to some sort of ‘normal’, many of us will be heading from the home office and back into the workplace.

So much has happened since we were last in our workplaces. We have all seen and experienced big changes in the way that we work, our views on how the way we work ‘works’, and indeed, what is important to us in terms of well-being whilst at work, and in our approaches to work-life balance.

Needless to say, this transition back out into the wider working world will be a significant one, and we will come up against challenges that we will have foreseen, as well as some that we won’t have done! Here are a few thoughts on things you might wish to remember and consider when making this transition, and personal boundaries that you may now wish to put in place and enforce after this, the bumpiest of periods.

1.     You Are a Different Person Now

 I had a bit of a shock the first time I walked back into a room to work and collaborate with other people in person. I was eager to get back into things, and walked back into work thinking, ‘I’ve got this. I know how this works.’ However, what became clear very quickly was that my temperament, after such a traumatic year, was entirely different. My tolerance was less, I was triggered and set off by a host of things I had never been set off by before… my fuse was somewhat shorter. This led to a bumpy few weeks, where I really had to be mindful of the changes in myself and learn how to work with ‘the new me’. Just be aware that your behaviour may surprise you. Be mindful of, and consciously observe, yourself.

2.     Home Focus vs. Workplace Focus

When working from home, no doubt you will have gotten used to your own rhythms and ways of managing your time. I know that, for me, I take a break every 45 minutes to do housework for 15 minutes, as it helps my brain to stay fresh. It also doesn’t matter so much if I end up procrastinating beyond those 15 minutes with other stuff. You will surely, if you have been working from home, have implemented leniencies for yourself. Don’t get caught out with these home-based habits when back at work. Of course, I’m not implying that you’ll be turning up to meetings in your pyjamas, but just be mindful that a more structured workday might be more of a shock to the system than you think. 

3.     Finding Downtime

Following on from the last point, if you have discovered that you work better with scheduled downtime, try and find a way to fit this into the structure of your workplace. This is also important for your wellbeing right now, as doing a full day at work will come as a shock to your body. 8-10 hours out in the world might not sound like a chore, indeed, you used to do it all the time, but it is amazing how out of practice your body can mind can get! Find downtime to keep yourself afloat as you get used to this again.

4.     Be Kind to Yourself

If you find the transition tricky, don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s not because you are suddenly ‘not good’ at your job, you are just out of practice. What is more important is that you remain conscious of your stumbles. This is a tricky time, and you need not make it trickier by hating on yourself. You’ll find your way back, all in good time. 

5.     Remember That You Are Not the Only One

We have all been in this together. So, whenever you are finding the move back to the workplace hard, know that many of your colleagues will be feeling the same way. This consideration is important in knowing that there is always going to be someone to talk to who will understand the difficulty and that you may have to cut others a little slack when they are having a wobble as well.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post ‘Working from Home’ Back to ‘Working from Work’ appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

We’d all of us, I think, like to think that we are good listeners, but we are part of a culture where it is acceptable to give in to distraction. To have good listening skills is to have the greatest tool for collaboration there is, and creativity and collaboration go hand in hand to move towards the greatest ideas and innovations.

Here are some thoughts on how to improve your listening skills…

When We Hear but Don’t Listen

‘Did you hear what I just said?’, you might remember someone once saying to you. You will answer that you did indeed hear what they had just said, even though your mind had wandered during the interaction. This was no lie on your part, whether or not you had adequately digested the information, because you did hear it. You will have heard words coming out of the other person’s mouth and been aware of their voice. The thing is, what the other person actually wanted to know was ‘were you listening?’

Listening is very different to hearing. To hear something does not require particular focus or engagement, it is simply an awareness of sound, it is passive. To listen is to apply focus to a specific voice or sound, to digest it and process it consciously. Our listening skills are not something we often earmark for improvement, but rest assured, adopting better listening habits will work wonders for your efficiency and your communication skills.

This improvement begins with first noticing what it is that gets in the way…

Distraction

Yes indeed, distraction is one of the most prominent hindrances present in our everyday lives. So many entities are fighting for our attention daily that we are sure to fall foul and divert to other things sometimes. Our phones are some of the worst culprits. Have you ever found yourself attached to your screen mid-conversation? Do you even remember deciding to look at your phone, or was it just habit? A familiar situation, for sure. Distraction comes in so many forms; phones are not solely to blame. A busy workplace is full of sounds, requests, and people you might, if you are honest, be more interested in engaging with. Anything can distract us if we are not fully invested in a conversation.

Wandering Brain

We have all drifted off from time to time. Perhaps you have a lot going on at home, or there is an e-mail you desperately need to reply to or maybe you are just deciding what to have for lunch! Daydreaming is natural, and often happens when we have not decided to focus.

Over Focus

You may be aware that you need to be listening intently to something. Sometimes we are trying so hard to listen, we forget to actually listen! You think, ‘I must listen carefully to this’, or ‘I hope I look like I’m listening’, and by the time you have finished thinking about all this, you realise you have completely missed what it was you we supposed to be listening to.

How to Listen Mindfully

To listen is one thing, to listen mindfully is another. To listen mindfully is to listen with focus, without distraction and judgement. It is said that the average person only remembers around a quarter of what has just been discussed in any conversation. Mindful listening not only makes your partner in the conversation feel valued and attended to but also helps you to increase your retention.

Be Present

To be present, all you need is to focus only on what is being said by the person who is saying it. So, take a few minutes before an interaction to clear your head of any thoughts and niggles that might cause your concentration to stray. Next, simplify your surroundings. This means no phones, no computers, no other people, basically, no distractions. This is what meeting rooms are for! If you have time, and it is appropriate, take 5 minutes for some meditation to ensure that you are calm, centred, and ready to engage.

Be Empathetic

Simply put, this is all about seeing the point of view of the other person. This is the best way to come to a solution in any given situation, as opposed to somebody ‘winning’ the interaction. Showing empathy also makes the recipient of that empathy feel supported even if agreeing on a topic is not possible.

Check Yourself

Make sure that you are not giving off nonverbal signs that you might not be engaged. Letting your eyes wander, fidgeting, bored or vacant facial expressions or making attempts to move away are all signs to the speaker that you are not listening, not interested, or not allowing them to express their needs.

By Chris Thomson

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Better Listening for Better Collaboration appeared first on The Conscious Professional.