My CEO told me so...

Many years ago, the CEO of my company sat me down and said - "Tim, its good to do nothing from time to time.  To turn off your computer and phone and close your door. And just do nothing."  It took years for that advice to sink in. In those days the terms "meditation" and "mindfulness" sounded to me (and perhaps also my CEO) like something monks or hippies did.  Little did I know, my CEO was suggesting that I be mindful.  Now days, its not just off hand advice, but a structured practice available to all of us and championed by some of the most successful people in the world.

Meditation and mindfulness is powerful tool to help you get what you want.  How?  For starters, by reducing stress.  The latter gets in the way of clear thinking.  And then by training our brains to perform better.  Just like we can train a muscle to get stronger, we can train our brains to think better.

From CEO's to students, meditation is being used effectively to optimize performance.  Per the article below, the World Economic Forum now has a panel specific to meditation.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/amid-the-chattering-of-the-global-elite-a-silent-interlude/?emc=eta1&_r=0

Optimize our Performance

We all seek or crave performing optimally. It looks good to onlookers and even if no one is around it certainly feels good to do something well. At work we want to do our jobs well, to make good decisions, to be creative, to be efficient. Playing sports or even board games we try to perform well. At home doing chores, efficiency is optimal. Being part of a family and raising children we want to get it right. Being social, we try to be contributors. It's almost as if trying to perform well is one of our basic instincts.

To achieve optimal performance we look to education, training, practice, and in often, good old fashioned hope. "I hope I do well!"

One of the most powerful tools but yet the most underused and under recognized conduits to optimal performance is nutrition. What, how and when we eat has a huge effect on how we perform. Eating and drinking effects our mind, our body and our resolve.

First order of business is eliminate foods that don't provide nutritional value(and there are many of them), and then find nutritional alternatives for food that is inflammatory. Then put down the fork between each bite. Then don't go and get seconds and certainly be aware of eating snacks. Our bodies are master geniuses and will balance themselves perfectly over time. Give them the right food, and even if we miss a meal here and there over overeat every now and again, and they will take care of the rest.

Within two weeks, without fail, we will start to notice we are stronger, faster, smarter. From Einstein to Djokovic, from an employee sitting in a cube to someone training for their first marathon, from parents to lovers...clarity, awareness, endurance, energy, excitement, fulfillment...will prevail.

"Don't live to eat....EAT to LIVE" as Gandhi would say.

The New Gold Standard

Reading between the lines, it seems that the world, while looking for the new gold standard is nervously holding onto the old.

If I expand my view from this article to the entire internet business section and read between the lines, it seems that the world has found the new gold standard but is nervously adopting it a little bit at a time. Nervous because it's new. Adopting it because it's value is clear.

The new gold standard is adopting a sustainable business strategy on a foundation of strong ethics and principle.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/sunday-review/the-golden-age.html

Why Companies Are Turning To Meditation And Yoga To Boost The Bottom Line

Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna says, "profit is not the goal, profit is the output of a mission driven organization that delivers a consistent product to their customers".  Mr Bertolini fuels this mantra with a personal yoga practice, and a company wide yoga offering.  And per the attached article Promega and others are doing the same thing...successfully boosting their bottom line with yoga and meditation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/mindfulness-capitalism_n_3572952.html

Corporations are our role models

Some believe that we choose our parents. If you don't believe that you must certainly agree that we choose the people that we look up to.  Be it a boss, a mentor, a teacher, a friend or perhaps someone famous.  We choose who influences the way we act and how we think.

Every day, in every way we choose to be influenced by the corporations of the world and in turn corporations help to shape the way we act and think.  Today's technology makes that quite obvious...think iPhone, or Facebook, or Google.  Go back 100 years and think Ford.  Now settle into all the less obvious companies that are part of our lives every day.  Perhaps its the company we work for, or the company with which we partner, and its certainly the companies who manufacture and distribute all the stuff we depend on, from food to fun, clothes to cars, travel to technology.

It seems that choosing the companies that shape our lives is as important as choosing a mentor.

Now lets flip the coin.  Do companies realize their position as role model in this world?  Executives must focus their attention on their impact.  Yes, environmental impact is important, as is social impact. But also the realization that they have a more subtle effect on peoples lives, and that through the matrix of commerce, consumption and corporate structure the general population emulates the behavior of those who run the worlds' corporations.