As phsychologist-coaches Susan David and Christina Congleton write for the Harvard Business Review, since there are few avenues for addressing negative thoughts and feelings in the office environment, leaders can get hooked on these feelings. From the article: The prevailing wisdom says that difficult thoughts and feelings have no place at the office: Executives, and particularly leaders, should be either stoic or cheerful; they must project confidence and damp down any negativity bubbling up inside them. But that goes against basic biology. All healthy human beings have an inner stream of thoughts and feelings that include criticism, doubt, and fear. That’s just our minds doing the job they were designed to do: trying to anticipate and solve problems and avoid potential pitfalls. David and Congleton lay out four strategies for mindfully addressing these thoughts and feelings as they arise in order to prevent them from sapping “cognitive resources that could be put to better use.” To read the four tips, click here. You may also want to check out Mindful‘s In Practice page for more instruction and discussion on mindfulness.
