Work as Meditation

When we think of Meditation we visualize pictures of Himalayan yogis sitting on mountains with closed eyes. We associate terms like detachment and surrender to meditation. But the truth is meditation has nothing to do with a place or persona. Meditation has everything to do with you attitude and mindset. It is the way you look at things, the way you take things and how aware and alert you are.

Work can become meditation. When we deeply and totally engross ourselves in work, we lose our ego and embark on a journey of meditation.

Following are few tips on how to meditate in the workplace:

1. Detachment:

You need to detach yourself from your work. You need to do your work with totality without expectations. Detachment means you are not focused on the result and give your complete attention to the action .You don’t need to create an identity for yourself from your work instead you need to lose yourself in your work.

2. Egolessness:

If you are too involved in your self-image and ego you will not be able to give hundred percent to your work. You will be too bothered thinking about your physical and mental selves and will miss totality.

Egolessness means that you surrender to the vision of the organization and work for the common good of the organization

3. Contribution:

The more you give the more you receive. This is a universal law and it applies to the workplace as well. When you are deeply involved in your work you give your total self to the work and you are bound to succeed because with egolessness you will be able to do justice to yourself and your work.

4. Objectivity

You need to be an observer to yourself and your work. You need to detach yourself from your work and observe your thoughts and actions. This will give you an objective viewpoint of your work and you will become more effective and efficient.

By:

Siddharth Anand

Faculty, INLEAD