Be More Productive Now: Mindful Strategies for Increasing Performance

According to research – including studies by the London Business School¹ and the Franklin Covey Institute² – the majority of business professionals use their time inefficiently.

Sure, they stay busy by answering email, replying to requests, and taking care of other mundane tasks. But as it turns out, being busy doesn’t necessarily equate to being effective.

In fact, if you take a close look at the data, it’s amazing how bad many of us in business are at utilizing our time and staying focused on our goals.

But why?

As it turns out, we’re actually addicted to the action itself.

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About the Authors

Rasmus Hougaard is an internationally acknowledged expert in training the mind to be focused and clear at work. He is the founder of The Potential Project – a leading global provider of corporate based mindfulness solutions operating in 20 countries. He is training senior executives, leaders and employees in organizations like Google, Nike, Accenture, GE and many other organizations in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Rasmus is author of the book “One Second Ahead – Enhancing Performance at work with Mindfulness”, published by Palgrave MacMillan, October 2015. Rasmus has a Master’s degree in Organizational Development & Adult Learning and degrees in Philosophy and Human Resources.

Jacqueline Carter is passionate about working with leaders to enhance performance, effectiveness and well-being. She is a Partner with The Potential Project and has worked with leaders from around the globe including from Sony, American Express, RBC and KPMG to name a few. She is a co-author of the book “One Second Ahead – Enhancing Performance at Work with Mindfulness” and gives regular talks on how to improve focus, clarity and results in daily work. She has managed teams of more than 100 people and budgets of over $60M. Jacqueline has a Master’s degree in Organizational Behavior and degrees in Labor Management Relations and Mathematics.

Gillian Coutts has over 20 years of experience as a leader and change agent in the sales and operations functions of large corporations. She has worked across a range of industries including retail, government, transport, oil and gas, and human services. Gillian is a Partner with The Potential Project Australia. Her clients include Yahoo!7, Telstra, BUPA, and large not-for-profit organizations. She also sits on a number of boards and regularly speaks on integrating mindfulness into leadership, work life, and – following her own wake-up call of cancer diagnosis and treatment – programs for post-traumatic growth.

Notes:

1. Harvard Business Review, “Beware the Busy Manager,” February 2002.
2. Franklin Covey, “FranklinCovey Global Time Matrix™ Survey,” 2011.
3. Britta K. Hölzel, James Carmody, Mark Vangel, Christina Congleton, Sita M. Yerramsetti, Tim Gard, Sara W. Lazar. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 191, 2011, 36–43.

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