For ten years I’ve been asking audiences of leaders this question:
In the last year, has it been easier or harder to control your level of mental chatter?
In every year of the last ten, the answer has been harder. It would seem, then, that the leadership curve on mental chatter is up and to the right.
For example, a group of sixty-five leaders I spoke to this past week on the connection between effective self-management and positive leadership outcomes posted these overall results in a self-assessment related to my Life GPS® personal planning tool:
17% frequently or always take time to be quiet and still
27% have very low or occasional mental chatter
49% feel rare or occasional regret or anxiety
What those results show is that somewhere between 51% and 83% of these leaders have what is technically known as monkey mind. In other words, their level of mental chatter is so high that their thoughts are like a troop of monkeys swinging from vine to vine.
And this just in, monkey mind is not a great starting point for positive leadership outcomes. If you think you may be suffering from monkey mind, here are three ways to improve your mental self-management so that you get the outcomes you’re leading for. (They build on each other so start at the beginning.):
Breathe the right way: First, learn how to breathe so that you can get out of the low-grade state of fight or flight that keeps your mind chattering throughout the day. In this three-minute video, I’ll teach you how to eliminate the chatter by breathing the right way. It’s what I call pushing the mental reset button.
Think in the present tense: Did you notice that the stats I cited above infer that 51% of the leaders I recently spoke to experience some level of frequent regret or anxiety? That means that their minds are churning on regret about something that’s already happened or anxiety about something that hasn’t happened yet. The obvious point is that they can’t do anything right now about either one of those verb tenses – past or future. The only action they (or you) can take is in the present tense. That’s where you shape future outcomes. The first step to doing that is to pay attention to which verb tense your mind is operating in. If it’s not in the present tense, push the mental reset button to get back there.
Solve for the mindfulness equation: Now that you’re building your mental muscles through breathing the right way and focusing on operating in the present tense, you’re ready to solve for the mindfulness equation.
I like to keep things simple, and my simple definition of mindfulness is that it equals awareness plus intention. Awareness operates in two domains – external and internal. The first step is to be aware of what’s going in your external environment. The second step is to notice your internal reaction to what’s going on in the external environment.
If you assess that you’re operating at your best, proceed with your intention.
If you assess that you’re unsettled, follow these four steps:
Press your mental reset button (see above).
Clear your monkey mind.
Clarify your intention about the leadership outcome you’re trying to create.
Proceed.
What’s your take on mental chatter and monkey mind? Easier or harder to control in the past year? What’s the impact of that? What’s working or not working for you in getting those monkeys to settle down? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment on LinkedIn or sending me a note.
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