This week we are featuring Taran Hughes again, who will be hosting our upcoming The Grid Workshops, The Conscious Sale, June 7th, 7-9pm at Cloud Coworking, Calle Sardenya 229, Barcelona.
After being truly engaged with this question for quite some time, it was only the last 5 or 6 years of my career in Telecoms that I realised that difference is simply the mindset held by the individual. Breaking this down, I observed in others and myself that there are 3 key points of conscious performance that significantly influence the outcome of what we do.
The core of what I speak about centres on State, Intention and Belief. When I speak of State I mean the sense of your inner well-being. How you feel about yourself and the world around you can be reduced for simplicity into high and low states. It changes depending on how we see the world, the opportunity it might represent and the potential of any given moment. The behaviour of successful people, people I have worked with and around all exhibit a state that is generally higher energy.
To hold higher state you must invest your focused attention. Mindfulness is so hot a topic today in business, with huge growth in the uptake of mindfulness practices. However, for many, this still remains a conceptualization, even for some who are practising. There really is no mysticism to this practice, you won’t suddenly float on air and achieve nirvana. Well, not immediately anyhow.
The link between state and mindfulness is simply the realisation that in the precise and present moment of now is all there is. If you want to maintain your energy, your focus must be in the now, engaging fully and making friends with what is. When you realise your state has dropped you then have an awareness and the opportunity to raise it. This can be through any number of approaches from meditation, music, exercise, yoga, going for a walk or staring at a favourite painting.
Without the awareness none of that is possible. Mindfulness, as the name points, too is being mindful, aware of where you are with your thoughts, and realising when they wander all that is need to bring yourself back to the here and now is to simply ask yourself where am I? Silently, to yourself and reconnect with where you are and what you do. State raising practices are accumulative: the more you practice, the more seated you are in that state, that energy, that vibration. Practice every day that which makes you feel still, feel connected to your body, to the environment. Each day for as little as 20 minutes aerobic exercise, or 10 minutes of meditation, or 5 minutes of dancing hard to your favourite tune in the morning like a complete loon, if you can be comfortable in letting go of all ideas about yourself and just engage in that activity every day you will feel a difference. You will quickly start to see that when things come up, the lost bid for business, the demands of your manager, the missed promotion if you practice state management that actually your ability to manage challenges, disappointments or even crisis’s are much improved.
It’s not that crap stops happening, it’s that you stop seeing things happening to you and realise they are just events in a continuing stream of events, some positive some negative. When you realise this you start to see that holding a running score does little to improve your sense of well-being, but more so you start showing others that you respond rather than react. Your approach becomes more aligned with a course that brings about the necessary action. You start to bring more conscious awareness into your work, which spills into the workplace, and it is hard not to notice the person moving in this state.
So if the state is the energy foundation from which our experiences are layered, then in the context of the work we do we need some direction. After all, for many being consciously aware and bringing that awareness into the office may still reflect only one person in an otherwise unconscious organisation. Nonetheless, never feel that one person can’t make a difference. To bring about the desired outcomes to your work, the direction you set must be in alignment with your clients. If you are in sales you must set the intention that aligns the client’s desired outcome with your own. Let go of the idea that you are chasing a deal, a monthly or quarterly number or even a pay rise or promotion. Connect with your client, understand what they are seeking to accomplish and align with that.
In the sales arena that means a shift in your focus of attention away from the idea of making a number or closing a deal, and bringing back to the reality of where you are at any given moment. If you’re with a client, then be with the client, listen fiercely to what they say, let go of needing to make a point. You will have the opportunity to share what you need to, but while they are speaking listen to every word. Your clients whether internal or external will notice this shift in your awareness, although when they do they may feel your energy only subliminally. That means that they don’t know that they sense it, yet it determines to a large extent how they feel about, and how they react to you. Some people are most clearly aware of it when they first meet someone, and even before any words are exchanged it can help define the first impression they form around someone. Being conscious in business is an ongoing process. It takes time, so be kind to yourself, from one moment to the next. Watch where your mind wanders to bring it back to the now frequently each day and you will be on a good path.
Namaste
