ID360 CEO Kim Zoller led a great presentation on some of the ways you can improve your everyday life by being mindful. By discussing the meaning of mindfulness, and dismissing the connotation of meditation with “softness,” Kim also used data to show how being mindful can help everyone in their daily lives.
HIGH PROFILE’S KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Defining Mindfulness: Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and sensations. It is the ability to skillfully manage your thoughts and emotions, so they do not manage you. Emotions are what we feel, not who we are. It is being aware of what’s happening and acknowledging it.
- Be Present: Right now, are you present or are you distracted? A study of 2,250 people by psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert found our minds are wandering 47% of the time. Researchers estimated only 4.6% of a person’s happiness in each moment was attributed to the specific activity they were doing, because a person’s wandering mind accounted for about 10.8% of their happiness.
- Mindfulness Helps Leaders: Mindfulness helps leaders to reflect effectively, focus on the task at hand, and master levels of stress so they are able to recharge more quickly. When running an organization, it reduces sick days, increases trust in leadership, boosts employee engagement, and increases job satisfaction and retention.
- Mindfulness Affects Job Performance: It reduces stress, increases activity and empathy, and leads to improved decision-making. It also decreases the stress hormone Cortisol, so you will physically feel better.
- Being Mindful Can Impact the Central Nervous System: The Central Nervous System is made up of two parts; the parasympathetic nervous system decreases the heart rate, and the sympathetic nervous system (“fight, flight, or freeze”) increases it. While it serves the purpose of keeping us safe, many of us resort to the sympathetic nervous system when it is not necessary. Therefore, one must interrupt the reaction to shift into the parasympathetic nervous system.
- Tangible Tools to Interrupt “Flight, Fright, or Freeze”: The first tool to interrupt the reaction of the sympathetic nervous system is gratitude. By acknowledging what you are grateful for, the brain is forced to scan for positive things occurring in our environment. The next tool is to ask, “what time is it?” By recognizing time, space, and our abilities, we use logic to interrupt the sympathetic nervous system.
Q&A with KIM ZOLLER:
Q. Will you walk us through your top 3 meditation techniques?
- My top 3 are guided meditations, mantras, and breathing exercises. The key to all of these is consistency. Practice makes perfect.
Q. Do you have a favorite meditation app?
- The one I use the most is “Waking Up with Sam Harris.” I also love “Headspace.” For any runners/walkers, Nike Run Club (NRC) is an app with guided runs, one of which is Mindful Miles, so you can be mindful while being active. Deepak Chopra and Oprah each lead mantra meditations, where you focus solely on the mantra.
Q. What is the correlation with yoga to meditation?
- Yoga is another form of mindfulness. It is being focused and paying attention to action and breath. It’s just like meditation and is just a practice of mindfulness. Invest in Yourself Webinar Series Mindfulness: A Skill with Life-Changing Results May 2020
Q. Do you have a tool that you regularly use to bring yourself to a mindful state from an emotionally elevated state?
- Breathing and giving gratitude. Breathing exercises are a great technique to help us find our breath and immediately identifying what you’re grateful for brings things back in perspective.
Q. Do you recommend sitting alone in a quiet room or sitting with other family members?
- Either one. With meditation, the more energy in a room the better. Silence isn’t mandatory for meditation. If you’re in a loud environment noticing the sounds around you, find the moment in yourself to find your own quiet and be aware of your surroundings.
Q. How do we let go while one never forgets anything?
- That’s a hard one! We have to shift from a “fixed mindset” to a “growth mindset” by asking what lesson I learned or what unfolded that led to the conclusion. It’s important to use mindfulness to know that things are out of your control, so keep perspective.
Q. What is your best tool to combat automatic negative thoughts?
- Breathing, observing and being aware of the outcome. Metaphorically, think of life as having two windows. We have the large windshield showing what is in front of us, and a small rearview that shows what we have already passed. Focus on what’s happening and where you are, and don’t let the past take up space in our thoughts.
Kim Zoller, CEO and founder, began ID360 over twenty-nine years ago after working in the staffing industry. Kim’s strength is her ability to be a true strategic partner by assessing needs, delivering sustainable solutions and implementing measurable results. She is also a dynamic facilitator and coach. Kim’s passion and goal is to make a positive and measurable impact in her clients’ lives. With an outcome-driven approach, predicated on Kim and her teams’ ability to truly understand the unique objectives of their clients. ID360’s clients emerge with people who are better-developed leaders. She’s also the co-author of “You Did What?” The Biggest Blunders Professionals Make, “You Said What?”, and Enhancing Your Executive Edge: How to Develop the Skills to Lead and Succeed. Together with her writing partner, Kerry Preston, Kim’s goal is to convey that presence and influence are necessary to building one’s career at every level. Please connect with her on LinkedIn or contact her at kimzoller@id360inc.com.