9 Mindfulness Habits You Need to Succeed in Business

Busy, driven startup business owners can find peace, productivity and make a profit. It takes a mindset shift. Mindfulness is the practice of being intentional and creating and keeping success habits that work for you. It’s not easy, but it is simple.

As a startup business owner, you have so much to do and to think about to make your business a success. When you hear the words mindfulness or meditation, you may not immediately think of business right? I mean, it might help quiet your mind, but how does that get the work done? In this article, you will learn some fundamental ways to apply mindfulness to your life and business to get more clarity, be more organized and grow your business.

Ways to apply mindfulness to your startup business

As we dive into applying mindfulness to your startup business, be open to the suggestions mentioned below. Each suggestion can become a tool you use to grow your business and connect with your target audience.

See yourself in the moment

Here are a couple of questions to keep in mind to help you with mindfulness. What does awareness really mean and how can it help you? You can't fix a problem you can't see right?

1. Get your GPS together.

Notice your starting point. When something happens do you tend to think negatively or positively? It is said you should focus on what is right to be more of a problem solver. I believe that is only half of the story. Focus on how things might be right, because if you PRETEND things are right when subconsciously you FEEL things are all wrong your mind will call BS and you will feel worse. Think "how might I" vs "how can I" make this situation better. The word can is binary. Often, when you ponder “Can I”, your brain starts thinking "I can't, end of story". By entertaining different ways you might have a different outcome, you get rid of the binary can or can't mindset.

2. Make a list.

"Oh God, not another list!" Yes, yes, I know. Calm down. This is a temporary and necessary exercise. You have to get out of your own way. For at least a week, (preferably 2) write down what gets your energy down, what irritates you. Become aware of the people, environments, and situations when you are not at your best. Then burn it or rip it up. Release that negative energy. Now you know where the enemy hides, it will be much easier to drive it out when you feel it coming.?

Secondly, A.D.D. to subtract stress. Use a list to map out what you should automate, delegate or delete from your to-do list. A?Virtual Assistant (VA), can help with this. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Leverage your resources.

3. Breathe.

Oh, you do this already? Like literally at this moment? Yeah, no. This isn't that.? Breathe in for a slow count of 3, then breathe out for a slow count of 3. THINK deeply about the breath that leaves and enters your body. Hold your hands to your sides and wiggle your fingers up when you inhale and down when you exhale.

Grateful for sand

Most of us think we are grateful because we bless our food, and maybe tip decently at a restaurant. It might be a little deeper than that.

4. Meditate.

I know, you can't turn that thing off, right? Stop trying to be perfect, and just be still. Contrary to popular belief meditation does not stop you from thinking. In fact once you get better at it, you may find that you have more thoughts, more ideas. Whaaaaaa? Yep. The key is allowing, and the perception of slowing your thoughts so that you do not feel attacked, but gently rained upon.?

One way to start is to imagine a beautiful beach, maybe pink or white sand. Something insanely blissful. Imagine clear water lapping the shores. Now see yourself picking up a handful. Imagine placing the sand back on the beach, grain by grain. Watch each grain fall from your hand. Allow yourself to feel grateful as each grain is a small part of the beautiful whole. You could also use this as a gratitude exercise (I mean, while you are at it, why not?) and say thank you for everything you can think of with each grain of sand.

5. Move.?

I know, I know, I just said be still. That was before, this is now. Keep up will ya? :-) You are not going to be meditating ALL the time, you've got stuff to do, maybe mouths to feed, work to do, emails to read (oh joy). Find ways to move. Notice I didn't say "find time" or "make time". No such thing. Time is what it is and doesn't move or change for any of us. You can be intentional and schedule specific times to take a walk or a break. Use partnering to conserve time. Collaborating saves you time and energy that you can repurpose to take some time for yourself.?

Just because you are in business by yourself doesn’t mean you have to market by yourself. According to Jerrilynn B. Thomas, founder of Smart Women Partner & Grow Rich , aligning your company’s interests, resources, and marketing muscle with other like-minded women-owned companies to accomplish much more than you might be able to do on your own is the smartest way to get your startup off the ground. She recommends seeding your LinkedIn account with complementary business and professional people who market to the same target audience as you. Cultivate win-win collaborative marketing partnerships to position your business in front of their social networking connections and clients through their podcasts, newsletters, webinars, books, networking groups, etc.

If you can't possibly spare 15 mins (or that's your story and you are sticking with it), you can get up from your desk and stretch, maybe do some of those cool breathing exercises? Moving helps to center on possibilities. What are you able to do and “how might you”? partner to save time and energy?

6. Speak success into your life

Start by writing down what you want. Maybe some things came to you in that 2-minute meditation you did earlier. A dream you have been pushing away? Has your inner critic been pushing the thought way, way down because the practical you knows that it’s impossible? Write down what you are thankful for, AND what you desire, then SAY IT OUT LOUD. You have not, because you ask not. Asking is a verb, it requires action. You can be grateful for all you have and still desire more. In fact, focusing on the good you have (whatever it is) is part of securing MORE of that good energy. Everything is energy. You have to FEEL? it.

Pizza Delivery

If you feel like expectations are disastrous, you may have been doing it wrong. You have no problem expecting to breathe or walk, right? It's fear. Let's call it what it is.

7. Honesty.

I know some people feel like having expectations sets them up for disappointment. Well, it may just depend on what you are expecting. You only have control over yourself. Dr. Wayne Dyer famously wrote, ?Change your thoughts, change your life. What are you expecting? A million dollars, a new job, your dream house? If you're honest, you probably are not really expecting these things, just wishing they'd somehow become your reality. Yet, somehow you are disappointed when they don't show up. Odds are you are probably too afraid to hope too hard, right? First of all, let me tell you that habits will get you farther than hope will every day of the week, but let's look at what you are really thinking.?

When you order a pizza, what do you expect? A turnip truck? Nope. You expect pepperoni in 30 minutes. You don't start worrying that the driver will get a flat tire, or get arrested and leave your pizza in a jail cell do you? So why then when you have a desire or a goal, do you start "expecting" that the worst will happen, and imagine every scenario that is in opposition to what you want? We have a negativity bias and have to work a bit to get around it. First, redefine success (there are ways to get to what you really want), ask for it (see speaking life above) and make a decision that you will be grateful and move forward no matter what. Notice I didn't say "be happy" (yet), because you have to learn that trick. You can choose happy by the way…Yep mind blown.

8. Be clear about what you desire.

What kind of pizza do you want? Do you want breadsticks, fries, a soda with that? Be specific. When we desire we are like " I just want a 'good' job", but when we worry it's "I need $1,593.22 by 11:59 pm or I'm doomed". Now obviously there are reasons why we can be specific about fear, but what if you were as specific about success? What does your dream job actually look like? What time do you start, whom do you help, and what activities do you spend your time on? Do you manage people or are you an individual contributor? Are you framing strategies or are you executing in the field? What makes you happy about the work you want to do?

9. Own It.

What will that hot, cheesy pizza taste like when you get it? Now I know that it can be hard to imagine what you've never had. So if the thing you most want is something you perceive to be a leap, how do you imagine it? You FEEL your way through. You have, by chance, been happy at some point in your life, right? Recreate the feeling, absent of the thing. Just feel what joy is like.?

Remember what it felt like to achieve or receive the best thing ever then multiply that. If that first client payment once gave you some breathing room, imagine the one that lets you hire a team, invest in that VA, or thank your mom for supporting or whatever [insert “if-I-could-only” here]. Own that feeling, then let it go.? Just as you don't stare out the window looking for the pizza, you have other things you can be doing while your order is being manifested. It may not be 30 minutes, but your happiness is on its way.

Mindfulness is just the beginning

There are many things you can do, but only one way to be. Strive to live in a state of awareness, gratitude, and personal expectance to be the best version of yourself. You will start to feel more aware, more balanced, and more ready to take on all the challenges that face small business startups.

Let me know in the comments - How do you reset, relax, and focus on today?

With Gratitude Always,

Malaika Simmons

P.S. Don't know where to start with affirmations and meditation? Grab my FREE 5-minute mindfulness audio 'The Agreement': HERE

About the author:

Life is a series of moments. What will you do with yours? Malaika Simmons, performance mindset coach, TEDx speaker, and author can help you figure that out. Malaika is a 2x Toastmasters club president, human-centered design strategist, innovation consultant, and co-author of two books, including the Amazon bestselling "The Success Blueprint" with Brian Tracy, and “Entrepreneurial Elevation”.

Malaika is the creator of The Momentology Method?, an intentional framework for living, she uses to help servant-leading women executives and other high performers design an impactful career, business, and life. As a result of working with Malaika, individuals trust themselves, claim their voices and lead with empathy to leverage their passions for profit and joy WITHOUT sacrificing their authenticity and integrity. She helps them lean into their joy and genius to live a Momentous Life?! Corporate clients get departments that run more efficiently, employees that are productive, engaged, and invested, and customers that feel valued and self-select again and again.

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