Provision #730: Mindfulness Matters
by Bob Tschannen-Moran
Laser Provision
In her extensive research and writing on trust in schools, my wife, Megan, notes
that trust is hard to define because it is easier to describe the absence than
the presence of trust. Trust is like air: we take it for granted until it
becomes polluted or scarce. Mindfulness works the same way. So many definitions
describe mindfulness in terms of what it is not: not distracted, not judgmental,
not reactive, not bored, and not attached to an outcome. Although these
statements are all true, they do not help us very much when it comes to
incorporating mindfulness into our life and work as leaders. What, exactly, are
we supposed to do and how, exactly, are we supposed to be? Read on to get some
answers.
LifeTrek Provision
It's hard to believe that in last week's Provision on
leadership lessons from Yoda, that tiny green character known as a "Jedi
Master" in the Star Wars universe, I would forget to include what is perhaps
Yoda's most famous saying of them all: "Do
or Do Not. There is no try." How could I forget that! I have included
that saying on several occasions in Provisions, with the first time being in the
fifth issue of Provisions, all the way back on February 27, 1999:
Own Your Life.
In 2002, I returned to that quote with a Provision titled,
Stop Trying.
Suffice it to say, that quote is one of my favorites.
So I added that into the
online version of last week's Provision, connecting it to one of Yoda's
other famous sayings, "To be Jedi is to
face the truth, and choose." Trying to do something without actually
doing it represents a failure to choose. We may be carrying around thoughts of
what we are supposed to do, want to do, ought to do, or should do, but all such
thoughts are illusions. They represent what is sometimes referred to as "mental
musterbating": beating ourselves, over and over again, with thoughts as to what
we "must" do. Such thoughts fail to inspire behavior change or hope. They rather
provoke gridlock, brought on by the guilt of procrastination and the frustration of failure.
That's why many coaches invite our clients to take a serious look at their "To
Do" lists. In many cases, these are not "To Do" lists at all. They are rather
lists of all the things we are not doing. Such "Not Doing" lists are not helpful
to anyone. They just keep getting longer and longer, triggering stress,
overwhelm, and impairment of life. Yoda was right: "Do
or Do Not. There is no try." Go through those lists and clean them up.
Throw away the things you are not doing. Keep the things you are doing, because
that is who you really are. And if you don't believe you can do that, you might
want to watch Yoda say that himself in a short, 43-second
YouTube clip.
Whatever we do or do not do starts in the mind, which is why mindfulness is so
important to great leadership. What we believe, how we pay attention, and how we
manage our emotions make all the difference in the world.
It may be tempting to think that Yoda's philosophy is just a modern expression
of the old notion of the "power of positive thinking." That would reflect,
however, neither the nuances of Yoda's understanding nor the definition of
mindfulness itself. Yoda is not saying that thoughts become things as a matter
of course. There is no simple, cause-and-effect relationship between what I want
and what I get. In the movie, Yoda's protιgι, Luke Skywalker, learned that the
hard way as his spaceship
sank back into the swamp. If it was easy to manipulate things in the physical
world by thinking of things in the mental world, the world would be a very
different place, indeed.
No, the relationship between thoughts and things is much more subtle and nuanced
than that. In fact, the more attached we become to an outcome in our minds, the
less effective we become as leaders. Attachment not only leads to suffering, as
the Buddhists would say, it also leads to judgmental thoughts and demanding
strategies in the course of how we communicate with others and go about our
days.
Such thoughts and strategies are exactly the opposite of what Yoda was
demonstrating to Luke in the swamp. Getting things done was not a matter of
making something happen at all. It was rather a matter of allowing something to happen
that would make life more wonderful. That was the life-giving agency
of the Force, which Luke was not yet able to channel but which Yoda was able to
muster fully despite his small size. Mindfulness was the key.
So what qualities make for mindfulness? It's easier to describe what mindfulness
is not than to describe what it is. Mindfulness is not being distracted from
what is happening in the present moment by thinking about stuff that happened in
the past or that might happen in the future. Mindfulness is not trying to do two
or more things at once, better known as multitasking. Mindfulness is not judging
what is happening in the present moment in terms of good and bad, right and
wrong, sacred and profane, or moral and immoral. Mindfulness is not getting
emotionally hooked by what is going on in the present moment. Mindfulness is not
working or pushing an agenda. Mindfulness is not ignoring the obvious, seeing
only what we expect to see instead of what is there.
All that and more encompasses the notion of mindfulness. It's no wonder, then,
that it takes
practice to cultivate and embody mindfulness as leaders. There is not a leader
nor even a person on the planet who does not fall prey to these tendencies. They
are, in fact, hardwired in our neurobiology. The brainstem sometimes referred
to as our primitive, Reptilian brain is constantly scanning the environment
for potential threats. It is awake at all times, even when we are sleeping.
That's why we don't stop breathing! But for all its survival value, the
brainstem's constant vigilance, sending out alarms with coded threat levels to
the rest of the brain, works against mindfulness. It is the source of what
Buddhists so aptly refer to as the "monkey brain": the ceaseless chattering of
the mind.
Such chattering does not contribute to great leadership. That's why so many
great leaders establish disciplined habits of mind, replete with regular rituals and
practices, to help us stay focused. Meditation is only one of many such
practices. The STOP Tool (Step back, Think, Organize your
thoughts, Proceed), developed by Tim Gallwey, is another that I have
written about frequently.
Nonviolent
Communication, with its four distinctions, has enabled many leaders to move
beyond knee-jerk reactions to more reflective, life-giving responses.
However we get there, the message is the same: mindfulness matters.
Here's my take on what mindfulness is and how we can cultivate mindfulness in
our work as leaders. Each ingredient of my understanding represents the opposite
of what mindfulness is not.
- Mindfulness is focused attention. Mindfulness starts when we
bring our attention to what is happening in the present moment. This is best
done with a gentle rather than a forceful spirit. Focused attention is not a
matter of self-control. We are not commanding the powers of attention; we
are rather inviting our minds to settle down and to focus on something.
When our minds wander off, we gently bring them back. Returning to focus is a
critical part of mindfulness.
- Mindfulness is single tasking. Mindfulness starts with turning
off our cell phones! That's a metaphor, of course, for managing our
environments so as to support our intention of getting and staying focused.
How many times have you interrupted your conversation with someone to take a
call or to attend to an entirely unrelated matter? How do you think they
felt when that happened? Great leaders make people feel special by staying engaged with
conversations and tasks until there is a sense of closure.
- Mindfulness is seeing perfection. There is a saying in the
coaching industry, often attributed to one of the founders of the modern
coaching movement, Thomas Leonard: "Everything is perfect just the way it
is, even when it's obviously not." That saying reflects the mindset of great
leaders. How can that be? Here is at least one way to understand the
obvious: things are what they are, and that means they are perfectly
designed for our own learning and growth. Think about it.
- Mindfulness is charge neutral. Although leaders have emotions as
much as anyone else, both positive and negative, great
leaders manage our emotions in real time until we are charge neutral in the
contemplation and consideration of events. Whatever is happening now is
happening now. Getting all worked up, one way or the other, can interfere
with wisdom. Great leaders learn how to manage our brainstems and their
accompanying Limbic systems.
- Mindfulness is openness to possibility. Yoda raised that
spaceship from the swamp not because he set his mind to it and made it
happen. It happened because Yoda was open to the possibility of it
happening. What a different take on leadership from mental toughness and
determination! By staying open to and inviting possibility, great leaders
generate great results which surprise even us. We don't know the outcome
ahead of time, but we trust it can be wonderful.
- Mindfulness is noticing novelty. I have written before about the
difference between foveal and peripheral vision, most recently in April of
last year in my Provision on the
rituals of
great leaders. Too often we see only what is in our clear line of sight,
and then only what we want to see. Mindfulness encourages us to see the
big picture and to notice stuff that is different than we might expect. When
such curiosity carries an appreciative spirit, it often becomes the hallmark
of innovation.
These are some of the positive attributes of mindfulness that great leaders
come to embody and practice on a regular basis. No one does them all the time.
But great leaders have a way of doing them more of the time than others. And
this doesn't happen by accident. It happens on purpose. Great leaders set our
intention to show up and to carry ourselves in a mindful way. With practice
anyone can increase how often and how well this happens. We're never more than
one decision away from making it so.
Coaching Inquiries: What is your decision when it comes to mindfulness? How do
you show up and carry yourself in life and work? How well do you embody the six
attributes of mindfulness identified in this Provision? What could help you to
embody them more fully? What is one thing you could do right now that would make
you more mindful? Who could join and support you on the journey?
To reply to this Provision, use our
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talk with us about coaching or consulting services for yourself or your organization,
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LifeTrek Readers' Forum (selected feedback
from the past week)
Editor's Note: The LifeTrek Readers' Forum contains selections from the comments
and materials sent in each week by the readers of LifeTrek Provisions. They do
not necessarily reflect the perspective of LifeTrek Coaching International. To
submit your comment, use our Feedback Form or
Email Bob.
My particular favorite Yoda quote is: "Do or do not... there is no
try." To do it justice, you must say the word "try" with revulsion and
disgust. I use that quote a lot. One of my friends swore I had an autoresponder
defined in my email client that replied this quote if any message had the word
"try" in it. Top
May you be filled with goodness, peace, and joy.
Bob Tschannen-Moran
President, LifeTrek Coaching International,
www.LifeTrekCoaching.com
CEO & Co-Founder, Center for School Transformation,
www.SchoolTransformation.com
Immediate Past President, International Association of Coaching,
www.CertifiedCoach.org
Author, Evocative Coaching: Transforming Schools One Conversation at a Time,
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