Last week we kicked off a new tradition at Bambu: daily morning meditation practice. I've personally been sampling various forms of mindfulness, meditation, and breathing practice for the past 18 months and have found tremendous value in coping with startup life and stress. The way I would describe it is a personal reset button, to prevent accumulation of stress and anxiety from day-to-day.
We made it voluntary for those that would rather grow a hipster mustache than be caught chanting in a circle chanting like a bunch of hippies. I'm happy to see that regularly half of the team show up, and likely that over time the stigma will disappear as it becomes normal.
Shouldn't we be doing important stuff like sales and hacking instead of wasting our time? Well, it's 10 minutes. If you don't have 10 minutes in 24 hours, the chances are you're doing something wrong already. The way I see it, you spend 10 minutes to make the remaining 23 hours 50 minutes better.
Also, because Darth Vader meditates.
WHY?
I've listed a few quick wins here, but Tim Ferris and Sam Harris among many greats have preached at length on the many immediate and long-lasting benefits.
- Take 10 minutes to make the whole day better.
- Start the day in a positive, calm mindset.
- Send less snarky emails, and more smileys.
- Less stress from receiving snarky emails.
- Appreciate little positive gestures from others.
- Have bigger ideas with a calm mind.
- De-clutter your mind to see the big picture.
- Reset yesterday's baggage before starting anew.
HOW?
This isn't too difficult. All it takes is for someone to suggest it to a few others and go from there. Just keep it voluntary.
- Download an app, podcast, or playlist with a guided meditation.
- Find a peaceful spot in the office, like a corner or meeting room.
- Set some chairs in a circle or sit on the floor.
- Set a phone or speaker in the middle to play the meditation out loud.
- Set all other phones on airplane mode to avoid interruptions.
- Start the 10-minute meditation.
- Win the day!
Try it out
- Oak app by Kevin Rose
- Guided audio by Sam Harris
Previous episodes you can check out
- Simple hack for information overload
- What I’m currently injecting into my brain in daily doses, and why
Much more to come…
Be sure to scroll to the top to follow me if you’d like to receive a notification when the next episode is added.
Thanks for reading,
Aki
Have you tried something similar at the office? Any other suggestions or tips? Please share so we can benefit, too.