The secret to success and productivity lies in the art of meditation

I watched Eat. Pray. Love. the other day and marvelled at how quickly Julia Roberts seemed to get the hang of the art of meditation. Whenever I sit down to meditate, after looking up a considerable number of 30k plus YouTube videos, my brain comes up with the most ridiculous things – did I turn off the gas after cooking Maggi, did I leave the AC on in the other room, did I just hear a work mail whizzing on my phone?

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Needless to say, meditating is no easy feat. When you are boggled down with work and have a constant clock ticking over your head, taking time out to find your ‘inner chi’ may seem like a waste of time to many, but even science points to the fact that you need to meditate in order to be more productive and proactive.

For a starting entrepreneur, the day begins at five in the morning and then just goes on because you need to wrap up two days’ worth of work in one. More often than not, your personal deadlines will make you come close to experiencing a series of panic attacks because your brain is working on an overdrive. At times like this, you need to keep your laptop to the side, find an airy spot in your house and just let your brain travel to another dimension. Meditating helps you rejuvenate and hits the refresh button on your mind. According to a study conducted by Psychoneuroendocrinology, even a few minutes of mindful meditation can go a long way in reducing stress and clearing your head.

To this end, meditation should be considered a necessity for entrepreneurs, and here’s why you should make sure to practice the art on a daily basis.

Lighten your mind and body

“I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Meditation is a lot more than sitting in an upright yogic posture and chanting ‘Om’. You need to actually concentrate only on your breathing and let your mind clear itself of its accumulated clutter, one by one, till you reach the stage where your mind and soul are one with your body and there is a distinct feeling of lightness surrounding you. This is your mind and body levitating off the weight of all your daily struggles and complications and simply making you learn to let go. As entrepreneurs, there will always be a hefty load of responsibilities on your shoulder, but instead of allowing it to bog you down, you can simply meditate to lighten and start to free the greater load on both your mental and physical being.

The importance of peace of mind

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” - Buddha

In a world that changes in a blink of an eye, it is imperative to maintain a peace of mind to truly be happy in what you do. We are so caught up in our quest to become the best of the best that we let our temporary triumph dominate over our natural senses, and when the euphoria from this victory fades, we are left with a sense of longing and loneliness. This is because we don’t give ourselves even a second of the day to actually wonder if we are truly happy or truly at peace. Meditation helps you find a true balance and secure a peace of mind with your reality, a necessity for both creativity, innovation and most importantly, happiness. As an entrepreneur, you need peace of mind to make sure that the next step you take will go forwards, and not propel you backwards.

Building your everyday patience levels

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart....live in the question.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

As an entrepreneur, you will have to deal with a lot of people testing your patience on a daily level and the urge to give in to your baser reactions and yell the house down. But one of the key traits of being a successful leader is to be patient and proactive rather than reactive. One of the greatest obstacles to productivity is impatience and to counter that, you need to meditate because the act itself increases your patience levels fourfold, automatically.

Discovering your ‘inner chi’

“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”- Dalai Lama

We’ve heard about the ‘inner chi’ from books and movies but haven’t quite understood what it stands for. Going by Chinese philosophy, the ‘inner chi’ refers to an energy or life-force that, when discovered, can help you reach your truest and purest potential – both mentally and physically. One can only discover their ‘inner chi’ when they have figured out the art of meditating and have reached a stream of consciousness above and beyond their current reality. In the quest to find your ‘inner chi’, you will improve your energy-levels and, consequently, your productivity levels – taking you a step closer to imminent success.

Do you believe meditation helps you as an entrepreneur? Let us know in the comments below!