As a business owner, I’ve learned that there are many wonderful benefits of meditation for entrepreneurs. And I’m not just talking about stress relief and relaxation, either. Actually, there are many ways meditation can help entrepreneurs. It can make us more strategic, more productive, and even more creative. Indeed, that’s why many famous entrepreneurs, such as Richard Branson, meditate every day.
As an entrepreneur, meditation can help you with all aspects of your business, from improving your leadership skills to making you more innovative. Indeed, my clients are often quite surprised by the results of my corporate meditation programs.
Let me show you what you need to know.
Let me show you how to get the most out of meditation.
Come meditate with me today!
The Serious Benefits of Meditation For Entrepreneurs
You probably already know that meditation is good for your health, but you might not know why it’s good for your career. Believe it or not, this formerly spiritual, now scientific practice, can enhance regions of your brain that affect your performance at work.
Let’s start with creativity because entrepreneurship is inherently creative. To be a creative entrepreneur, you need to be able to formulate new ideas that you then turn into a business / product. Essentially, this means you are doing divergent and convergent thinking, a cognitive process performed by the brain’s frontal cortex. Studies show that meditation (and particularly non-directed or “open” meditation) heightens your creative thinking, leading to new ideas.
But while creativity is important for entrepreneurs, you also need decision making skills. You can’t just be infinitely creative. You need to decide which ideas to run with and which to ditch. This is almost like Yin and Yang—you create ideas and then decide which to keep and which to discard. Amazingly, meditation helps here too. Meditation balances the two hemispheres of the brain while also reducing anxious thinking. The result is positive decision making that isn’t impaired by worry.
Speaking of worry. Obviously, as entrepreneurs we are always making stressful financial decisions, and we do not want that stress to effect neither our careers nor our health. Thankfully, as is well documented, meditation is basically a stress pill that help you to relax even while you are making those stressful decisions.
I believe we can agree that these are some impressive benefits. And if you are indeed an entrepreneur, you are probably interested in trying meditation. So, how do you do it. Let me show you.
Best Types Of Meditation For Entrepreneurs
Many people think that meditation is just sitting and focusing on your breathing. In actual fact, that is just one of many different types of meditation. It’s worth understanding some of the different methods because they can each benefit you in different way. So, let me show you some of the best options.
For Creativity
As I mentioned above, meditation can have a wonderful effect on creativity, and in turn it can help you to create new ideas. One meditation stands head and shoulders above all others for this: Open Meditation.
Open Meditation is basically a meditation in which we do not focus on any one specific thing, but instead “open” the mind to the entirety of our surroundings. Essentially, it means being aware of everything all at once. You can learn more about this in my guide to meditation for creativity.
For Decision Making
As an entrepreneur you routinely make important decisions, so it is imperative that you have excellent decision making skills. Thankfully, meditation helps. Indeed, pretty much all forms of meditation will help you to make better decisions. The most basic method, which is mindful breathing, will help to quieten your mind and reduce stress, which creates a better psychological state for making a decision. There are also other methods that you might like to try, and you can read about them in my guide to meditation for decision making.
For Stress Relief
Again, this is something that virtually all forms of meditation will help with. Because meditation promotes activity of the parasympathetic nervous system and balances brain chemical, it helps us to feel relaxed. Even simple guided meditations can help with this. Indeed, just sitting outside somewhere peaceful will help with this. You can explore our main menu to find different options for stress relief. But ultimately, all forms of meditation will help.
My Experience
I’m a creative entrepreneur myself and have been so for many years. During that time, meditation has been the backbone of my wellbeing, and also an important tool for my career. I personally practice more than twenty forms of meditation and honestly, each one is beneficial in different ways.
For instance, most mornings I will wake up and spend a few moments mindful breathing. This helps to calm my mind and quieten my thoughts so that I am ready for the day ahead. I’ll then set to work, and even while working I try to be mindful—my article Mindfulness At Work discusses this in more depth.
Then, when it comes to breaktime I will practise some mindful eating (hey, might as well get something productive out of that downtime!).
Then there are little meditations that I will do here and there dependent on the situation I’m in. For instance, if I want to enhance my communication skills before an important meeting, I’ll practice some compassion meditation, and if I need some guidance on a project I’m working on, I’ll do Third Eye Meditation, a method that helps us to access our insight.
My point is that meditation is a very versatile thing, and you can use different meditation techniques to help with different things. That’s why, if you are new to meditation, I recommend that you explore the different techniques so that you know your options.
Summary
As an entrepreneur, meditation is a huge part of my life, and I need it for both my career and for my health and wellbeing. As a meditation teacher I might be a little biased, but I truly believe that meditation is an essential tools for entrepreneurs. Indeed, there is a reason why mindfulness is now one of the most popular corporate wellness programs in the world.
If you would like to see what meditation has to offer you, book an online meditation lesson with me today.
Paul Harrison is a passionate meditation teacher who believes in genuine, authentic meditation. He has more than 15 years experience in meditation and mindfulness. He studied meditation in beautiful Oxford, UK, and Hamilton Ontario Canada, and earned his degree at Staffordshire University.
“My goal is to provide the most authentic meditation sessions so you can harness the power of your own mind for personal transformation” – Paul Harrison
