Zen Masters' approach to keeping your cool in high-stakes meetings (interviews, presentations, negotiations)

In this article I discuss how to stay almost as calm as a Zen master in high-stake meetings, be it job interviews, asking your boss for a promotion, important client meetings or company presentations. You can also view it as a video here: https://youtu.be/xrE1ONP6aF0 

This technique is available to anyone as it only involves a change of perspective. But you will find it easier to implement if you're someone who is grounded in any kind of spirituality - be it a mainstream religion, new age, a guru you follow or any spiritual philosophy.

There are many ways that I help clients to deal with anxiety in high-stake meetings and I find that the greatest changes happen for those who are open to a fundamental change of perspective of reality, different from our conventional view.

So if you are still with me - strap yourselves in - I'm gonna go full-power spiritual on you! 

If you dig deep into the basis of any and each religion, when you strip away the biased human interpretations of words of holy men, you will most certainly find that the core message is one of Unity, that on some level, we are all connected, as Children of God, sisters and brothers, etc. Hence most religions share the fundamental principles of forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, and kindness to each other.

Quantum physics mirrors this view of the world with surprising findings that our human brains trick us into believing in the idea of separation when in reality on a subatomic level, nothing is truly separate. It seems there is only one ‘field’, one substance, of which we are all part (some sort of Consciousness Soup). Even the father of quantum physics, Max Planck himself, believed that that substance is Consciousness, and he wasn’t the only Nobel Prize winning physicists to think so.

Even if we never get to experience this Unity consciously, we all have experienced this invisible connection to some degree subconsciously. It happens when we fall in love, or when we look into the eyes of a young child, or when we experience awe from a beautiful sight of nature.

What is your personal experience of it? Let me know in the comments!

Ok, now what does any of this have to do with performing at your best in important business meetings??

You see, if you walk into the room projecting the thoughts of separation with the other person - you meet them as an opponent or a competitor, and you experience a degree of shame, resistance and anxiety. Which prevents you from performing at your best.

When you walk in projecting the thoughts of Unity - you are more likely to experience an open and relaxed state, and an easy-going confidence. A relief even.

Don't get me wrong - a degree of shame and thoughts of separation are healthy and useful and even fun, so we can all interact and play out this grand game of life! But if taken too far - it gets unhelpful and possibly even paralysing to your success.

You may ask - but what if the other person is not thinking about Unity, what if they take advantage of your open and relaxed state etc. And all of these are valid questions. I'd be happy to answer them in more detail in the comments below - if you leave your questions here.

But instead of theorising about it now - there is no better way to come to grips with this mind-boggling idea than to put it to practice for a week and observe the changes in your state for yourself, as well as the outcomes of such meetings.

As an experiment this week - walk into each meeting greeting your colleagues or clients with the thought that on some fundamental level, that is difficult to perceive with your mind right now, both of you are connected, they are part of you and you are part of them. You can even create a phrase to repeat before each meeting to remind you of this knowledge. I will share with you my example, and feel free to customise it in a way that resonates with your beliefs. 

Repeat this silently in your mind now:

"On some level that is beyond my conscious understanding I feel and know that You And I are One. The Divine in me honours the Divine in You".

How do you feel after saying this?

Does this sound bonkers to you or does it resonate? 

I'd love to hear about your experiments if you get to practice it. Send me a private message if you would like to share or ask something in private: [email protected]

Check out & subscribe to my YouTube channel for more ideas on how to live with purpose and inner peace: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChZC4OPNOvQqN0ulxeJYE-g