3 Ways to Battle Burnout and Become a More Mindful Leader

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Too many leaders feel the need to produce constantly, and the resulting burnout is bad for us, our jobs and our relationships. This corporate well-being consultant thinks a simple mindset shift can help.

Anne is a leader in a large technology firm. She and I have a longstanding coaching relationship, and she comes in when she needs extra guidance or support. When she called me this time, she said, “Carley, I have been diagnosed with breast cancer.”

When Anne came to me with this news, I helped her make some wise and quick treatment decisions, but it felt imperative that we also speak about her well-being. I knew from working with Anne that she is a driven “go getter.” We often spoke about how she tended to push herself too hard by working 10 to 12 hours on top of a long commute and how she needed more sleep, exercise, healthy eating, and breaks.… READ MORE...

How to Be More Compassionate at Work

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How compassion can short-circuit stressors in the workplace.

Have you ever dreaded going into work because the people around you were in a negative spiral of energy? We are emotional beings and we can’t help but be affected by the varying moods and interactions we have with others. Life is always changing and this constant change can create difficult thoughts and emotions, which can flow into the workplace. The silver lining is that if we can meet suffering at work with concern and care, compassion naturally arises. Work environments that cultivate compassion create a much more positive and productive place to work.

We can experience a variety of difficulties at work. Organizational actions may trigger suffering like job loss and downsizing. It was found in a study that downsizing unsettles people who lose their jobs and distresses survivors who are concerned about their colleagues’ losses, along with their own job security (Mishra et al.… READ MORE...

How Mindfulness Can Save the Planet

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Eight steps to a greener, more sustainable world.

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
—Robert Swan

Why do you meditate? To slow down, be more present in your life, release stress, change negative habits? These reasons might be the initial spark for the practice, but there is something even more profound that we gain through mindfulness. When we become more aware of our thought patterns and start to untangle from them a bit, our hearts open up and there is an opportunity to recognize that we’re all connected to each other on this planet. In this way, meditation becomes more than a solitary pursuit. My meditation practice is strengthened and maintained because of your meditation practice. With mindfulness, we can train the mind to pay attention on an individual and a global level. It’s with this global awareness that we can ask: “What really matters?”… READ MORE...