Increase Your Productivity by Mastering Singular Focus and Mindful Meditation | Emma Seppälä

source: Big Think     2016年7月30日
Emma Seppälä, Ph.D explains the flaws of multitasking, and how meditation can help you achieve mental clarity, increase productivity and even up your levels of charm. Seppälä's is the author of "The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success" (http://goo.gl/D8Nrsb).
Read more at BigThink.com: http://bigthink.com/videos/emma-seppa...

Transcript - In order to be successful people often think they have to constantly be achieving constantly going from one thing to the next crossing things off of their to do list. But as a consequence they're not in the present moment. And their productivity would be so much greater if they stayed present, as well as their performance on their tasks. What's more is that their relationships would improve drastically. So what research on charisma shows is that highly charismatic people are people who are able to be so fully present with other people and that's what leads to that incredible connection and that influence that they have.
Research shows that our mine actually wanders about 50 percent of the time and research also shows that when our mind is wandering we are never as happy as when our mind is in the present moment. So if your mind in the future worrying about something that's going to happen or in the past because you're regretting something or angry at somebody, you are more likely to feel more negative emotions. But when you're in the present moment, even if you were doing a task you don't particularly like you'll actually feel happier. But also what we know is that you'll be able to be more productive when you're in that state because you're going to naturally be focused.
One way that you can start to bring your mind back into the present, given its tendency to wander, is through breathing exercises and relaxation exercises. If you relax your body your mind will naturally start to settle down and breathing is a very effective way to do that very quickly.
So meditation practices can really help you observe your mind, become aware of its tendencies, for example, its tendency to wander, and help you through that awareness and shift your attention back into the present moment. Meditation is an exercise in which you are engaging fully with the present moment. So it's a fantastic way to train your mind to be more present with what is going on right now. Read Full Transcript Here: http://goo.gl/MibaU9.