By In today’s over stimulated 24/7 world, many leaders struggle to leverage the power of their mind to focus and concentrate because they have not developed “Mental Hygiene Practices” to support having a “Healthy Mind”. Although they use their mind every day, they are not “Taking Care” of their mind.
When you become intentional about “Mental Hygiene Practices” to build mental strength you will see a significant improvement in your ability to truly make an impact to support your goals.
Top 6 Mental Hygiene Practices We Recommend to Leaders:
- Meditation: 20 minutes of meditation daily is a great practice to support developing mental muscle to focus and concentrate. If you’re new to mediation, avoid being discouraged by started small with just 5 minutes a day. Consistency is key!
- Get Rest: Be intentional about having quality sleep by “Designing” one hour before going to bed to slow down your mind through:
- Relaxing music
- Quiet time to reflect
- Stretching
- Minimal interaction with negative media
- Study/Learning: Allow time daily for studying and learning. This is a mental practice to stimulate the mind by learning something new or taking time to ponder ways to create new possibilities.
- Self-Reflection: Allow time daily for self-reflection. Here are two great questions to ask yourself at the end of the day:
- What is one thing that inspired me, engaged me or moved me today?
- What is one thing that irritated me today?
- Exercise Your Imagination: In your mind, practice having generative conversations (action-orientated) with yourself about how you perceive and view “The Unknown Future”. Instead of telling yourself how scary it is, use your internal voice and imagination to talk about all the new possibilities you and your team can embrace.
- Remove Technology Distractions: In an excellent article in the New York Times on Nov 19, 2016 it said this, “Quit Social Media – Your Career May Depend On It”. The article speaks to the need for people to disconnect and practice being intentional about making time in their day to focus and concentrate on creating high quality value and impact from their expertise and knowledge.
Your Weekly Learning Journey:
Pick one “Mental Hygiene Practice” and do it for 7 days. Take time to reflect and be aware of your increased ability to create “Quality Value and Impact” around you.
