One Second Ahead Read online

  tentive, and lose focus?

  Thankfully, the answer is no. It is actually possible to train the brain

  to respond differently to today’s constant interruptions through the

  practice of mindfulness.

  Simply put, at its introductory level, mindfulness means trained

  attention. Based on thousands of years of practice, mindfulness tech-

  niques enable people to manage their attention, improve their aware-

  ness, and sharpen their focus and clarity.

  Introduction ● xi

  One Second Ahead is about applying mindfulness techniques to

  daily work life. Based on a program in corporate mindfulness designed

  through our work in The Potential Project, this book provides real-

  world examples and lessons from organizations that have implemented

  mindfulness on a large scale. Thoroughly tested in a diverse range of

  industries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, this program

  has resulted in measurable increases in productivity, effectiveness, job

  satisfaction, and much more.

  In building this program, I brought together business leaders,

  researchers, and mindfulness masters to help develop a way to bridge

  mindfulness and work. After years of development, this program has

  been implemented by companies like Microsoft, Accenture, Roche,

  Nike, American Express, General Electric, Citrix, Google, Sony, Soci é t é

  G é n é rale, KLM, IKEA, Royal Bank of Canada, Ogilvy, Carlsberg,

  and many more. Evaluated by third-party researchers, the quantitative

  results of this training include increased focus and effectiveness, as well

  as enhanced quality of life, reduced stress, and better well-being.

  On an individual level, the program has helped people quickly and

  easily learn how to improve efficiency and increase self-control. For

  many of them, this has resulted in a distinct one-second edge in critical

  decision-making. Why one second? In today’s business environment,

  one second is a quantifiable advantage.

  “Speed wins,” we often say. As human beings, we want information

  now; we want to take action in the moment. Whenever we are given a

  choice, we will opt for a service that delivers faster than the competi-

  tion. There is a reason Google posts its search times. There is a reason

  we are increasingly turning to analytical tools like big data for near

  instantaneous glimpses at the information that drives our businesses.

  One second matters.

  So much so that today we talk of the “speed of business.” How fast

  is that? A millisecond advantage on Wall Street has been estimated to

  be worth $20 billion a year.

  And from a cognitive perspective, being one second ahead provides

  a clear edge in effectiveness and productivity. It offers the space and

  freedom to choose your distractions and direct your mental energy. We

  xii ● Introduction

  cannot always control what happens in our lives, but we can deliber-

  ately and thoughtfully choose our responses to those events.

  Viktor Frankl, who survived a Nazi concentration camp, wrote,

  “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our

  power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and

  our freedom.” 3 Despite extreme conditions, he managed to choose his

  response rather than be a victim of his own reactivity.

  This book gives you that freedom in the office or the boardroom,

  during a sales call or a high-stakes presentation.

  To be clear, these techniques—as well as the practice of mindful-

  ness itself—are not solely about making more money or accelerating a

  career. There is a bigger, more important purpose of mindfulness.

  After my big failure ten years ago, the first organization that invited

  me to bring in corporate-based mindfulness training was the larg-

  est insurance company in Scandinavia. Thomas, the sales director of

  the company, sponsored the program. He initiated the program hop-

  ing to improve focus and effectiveness for himself and his staff. He

  experienced that happening—and he also experienced something else.

  Something much more significant.

  He shared it with his department and me one month into the

  program. His words have stuck with me ever since. He said, “I have

  noticed that we are all becoming more effective and productive, and

  for this I am glad. But I’m also experiencing something more impor-

  tant. I feel like we’re becoming better human beings, kinder, gentler

  and happier.”

  In the end, this is what mindfulness is about: being our best selves

  and realizing more of our potential in everyday life. People who are more

  focused, clear minded, and kind make for better organizations. And

  many better organizations make for a better world. Think of a world in

  which improving performance goes hand in hand with increasing kind-

  ness. And a world in which kindness is valued as much as efficiency and

  effectiveness, as much as revenue per share or operating cash flow.

  It may sound overly optimistic, but I see it happening every day in

  the many organizations we serve around the globe.

  * * *

  Introduction ● xiii

  Designed for busy professionals looking for a new way of working

  within high-stress, high-paced conditions, One Second Ahead has been

  written as a very practical, how-to guide. It includes research-tested

  tools that have been used successfully by some of today’s most respected

  global brands.

  Although the book will be of great interest to individuals in leader-

  ship roles, it has been developed to be highly relevant and applicable for

  people at all levels of an organization. Offering small, bite-sized tech-

  niques, the book tackles the most persistent inefficiencies and problems

  in the workday, such as e-mail, meetings, priorities, and planning. Each

  of these techniques is self-contained and easily implemented, providing

  readers with immediate results.

  One Second Ahead draws from the wisdom and methods of a sev-

  eral-thousand-year-old tradition that today is known as mindfulness.

  While mindfulness has deep roots, its appearance in the broader cul-

  ture is a more recent development. Despite the media’s trumpeting of

  the benefits of mindfulness, however, the vast majority of people have

  not made mindfulness part of their daily lives and do not even know

  where to begin.

  This book aims to change that by starting where busy people—like

  you—need immediate assistance: with the daily tasks that sap energy

  and reduce productivity. Once you have experienced success with these

  tasks, you can explore deeper mindfulness interventions that address

  the development of mental qualities such as presence, patience, kind-

  ness, and acceptance. From there, it is an easy step to transforming your

  life through the regular practice of mindfulness and its core tenets:

  sharp focus and open awareness.

  The first part of the book examines mindfulness in a work-based

  context. This part opens with a chapter that lays the foundation for

  the concept of mindfulness, examines both its benefits and the data

&nb
sp; supporting its efficacy, and provides the most basic understanding nec-

  essary to succeed with the work-based techniques that follow. Divided

  into 16 concise modules, the techniques themselves are designed to be

  easily applied to daily work tasks. Integrating mindfulness into the

  core elements of work life, each of these techniques is intended to give

  you immediate benefits in productivity and performance.

  xiv ● Introduction

  In the next part, One Second Ahead outlines strategies for replacing

  negative thought patterns that could prevent you from achieving your

  full potential. The mental strategies in this section help rewire the brain

  by cultivating powerful mind qualities, as noted above. Rewiring, or

  retraining, the brain in this way will help you respond mindfully to

  unforeseen problems that crop up in the workplace, rather than revert-

  ing to negative, unhelpful habits.

  Part 3 of the book offers a comprehensive look at the two founda-

  tional practices of mindfulness training: sharp focus and open aware-

  ness. Together, these two forms of training help develop a balanced and

  high-performing mind. Once you reach this level of understanding

  and commitment, you will find your ability to stay focused, aware, and

  mindful to be exponentially improved. You will also better understand

  how to apply mindfulness outside the office, experiencing greater peace

  and well-being in all aspects of your life.

  If you want to take your training deeper and experience the full range

  of benefits that mindfulness offers, the last chapter in Part 3 includes

  a training plan for systematically implementing mindfulness on a day-

  to-day basis. Along with this plan, the chapter answers common ques-

  tions about the daily practice of mindfulness—the how, when, and

  where. The chapter then concludes by discussing how mindfulness can

  be introduced into an organization. This includes advice and tips on

  how to start an organization-wide program based on experience with

  hundreds of companies that have successfully incorporate corporate-

  based mindfulness training.

  Each of these parts focuses on providing you with readily applicable

  skills, as well as increased clarity and insight. At its core, this is a practi-

  cal resource: one that delivers immediate results. But it is also an inspir-

  ing guide to working, thinking, and living better.

  I have organized this book in such a way that you will have the

  opportunity to experience the benefits of mindfulness straight away.

  Although practice before theory may seem contradictory, very simply,

  in my experience, busy people are keen to get tools that can imme-

  diately help them in their day-to-day work life. This is a common

  criticism of books on mindfulness: too much mysticism and theory

  before the basic helpful, prescriptive information is reached. With this

  Introduction ● xv

  structure, I put the most immediate, practical, information up front.

  Once you experience success in the daily tasks that define your work

  day, my hope is you will look to embrace the broader implications of

  mindfulness and deepen your understanding of its application.

  To help with this evolution, I have incorporated a number of special

  features and practical tools throughout the book, including

  ● Tools and techniques for implementing mindfulness at work to

  enhance focus, clarity and results

  ● Guidelines and reflections to change how you think about peo-

  ple and things in the workplace towards being more calm, clear-

  minded, creative and kind

  ● Simple yet detailed step-by-step instructions for systematic mind-

  fulness training

  ● Vignettes and real-world stories to help illustrate key lessons and

  stimulate thought

  ● Guidelines for a 10-minute-per-day mindfulness program guaran-

  teed to reshape your life both at work and at home

  ● A link to a training app that will enhance your learning and

  training

  This book is inspired by the thousands of people who have used

  these techniques and strategies and started daily mindfulness train-

  ing. Hearing their stories of personal transformation and success is the

  main reason why I wrote this book—to share these methods with a

  wider audience. In these pages, I will share some of their stories with

  you. Please note that all of the stories are real, although some of the

  names have been changed to respect privacy.

  Although there is a logical progression throughout

  One Second

  Ahead , it is also designed so that you can pick and choose the sections

  that are of most interest to you. This means you can jump from Part to

  Part or Technique to Strategy and pull out what you need, when you

  need it.

  This book is written from a singular point of view. However, it

  includes the collective insights, wisdoms and experiences of myself,

  my co-authors and our colleagues at The Potential Project. Therefore,

  xvi ● Introduction

  when you read “I” know that it is a reflection of a collaborative effort to

  bring the benefits of mindfulness to workplaces around the globe.

  For example, if you picked up the book because you are curious

  about how mindfulness can be applied to everyday work life, start with

  Part 1. However, if you want to dive right into more advanced mind-

  fulness training, you can jump to Part 3. If you are in a leadership role

  and planning to introduce a mindfulness program to your peers and

  reports, you may want to go straight to the second half of the final

  chapter.

  Regardless of how you choose to use this book, I hope it will be

  of long-lasting benefit to you. By practicing the book’s methods only

  a few minutes a day, you can develop more effective mental habits,

  allowing you to thrive in even the most competitive, high-pressure

  situations. Most important, however, One Second Ahead is intended to

  empower you—and busy people like you—by providing a road map

  to improving performance through greater focus, awareness and clarity

  of mind.

  PART I

  Workplace Techniques

  With the rise of the Internet and the growth of mobile

  devices, how and where we work has shifted. We no lon-

  ger need to go to work—work comes to us. Even if we do

  go into the office every day, work-based problems can find us night or

  day, in a restaurant or at the ballpark.

  Over thousands of years, however, our brains have evolved to handle

  a very different kind of work. Humans historically survived through

  physical labor as hunters, farmers, and even for a period, as industrial

  workers. During this time, people were self-sufficient and tasks were

  clear: kill an animal, gather firewood, plow a field. Even on the pro-

  duction lines of Henry Ford and Frederick Taylor, the work was well

  defined—hammer x number of bolts in y hours.

  In all of these cases, there was a singular focus to the work and a

  clear demarcation between field, forest, factory floor, and home. This

  means our brains aren’t naturally wired to operate effec
tively in our

  new reality. To help visualize the shift, see Figure PI.1.

  Today’s information-driven work environment is frequently hectic

  and often ambiguous, with the lines between work and home becom-

  ing more and more blurred by each new productivity app. It’s not hugely

  surprising, then, that the World Health Organization predicts work-

  related stress, burnout, and depression to be among the world’s most prev-

  alent diseases by 2020, joining perpetual killers like stroke and diabetes.1

  At the very least, we face a challenge. On the one hand, we have an

  exciting, stimulating, and complex work life. It’s fast paced, dynamic,

  2 ● One Second Ahead

  Figure PI.1 Work-life has changed.

  and filled with possibility. On the other hand, we have a brain built for

  simpler times. Thankfully, there are things we can do to better man-

  age the challenges of today’s work life to stay one second ahead of the

  demands and responsibilities of our information-laden existence.

  Part I of the book examines different techniques designed to help

  you face today’s fast-paced reality with energy, enthusiasm, and bal-

  ance. Presented as bite-sized, self-contained modules short enough

  to read during your commute or lunch break, each of the following

  16 Techniques deals with ways to optimize your mental resources and

  well-being while facing specific challenges in the workplace. The more

  techniques you implement in a meaningful way, the greater benefit

  they’ll be to you and the people you work with.

  To lay the necessary foundation for applying these Techniques,

  Part I opens with a concise chapter that defines mindfulness, exam-

  ines both its benefits and the data supporting its efficacy, and explains

  the most basic skills needed to implement mindfulness in an office

  environment.

  Bear in mind, though, these techniques are just one very practical

  facet of the much bigger and broader tradition of mindfulness. The

  real key to mindfulness and a mindful life is in the daily practice, as

  defined and presented in Part III. My sincere hope is that once you

  experience success with these quick, hands-on workplace techniques,

  you’ll be encouraged to embrace the deeper meaning of mindfulness