Takeaway: Meditation can increase your productivity by improving creativity, ability to focus, and your health.
Loïc Le Meur, the founder of the LeWeb tech conference, steered away from meditation at first because it didn’t seem like a habit he could relate to. He didn’t know anyone who openly meditated, which made it harder to imagine regular meditation in his life.
The truth is that some of the most successful people meditate regularly including at least four of the entrepreneurs mentioned in this article. Meditation has a branding problem: you’ll rarely see it on productivity tip lists but among other benefits, 75% of participants in Lift’s one-month meditation challenge said daily meditation improved their focus at work.
I’d never meditated until I noticed that it was a very popular habit on Lift. I decided to give it a go. I have to admit I really thought mediation was for weird people and not for me, but Lift showed me that many of my friends were doing it and that gave me confidence to try it out.
After a good week of meditating for 10 minutes a day, though, things settled down and I started noticing the benefits. Ideas still come but I can “see” them with some distance and let them go, allowing my mind to rest… I can now meditate for more than 30 minutes. When I [meditate], I feel good for the rest of the day. I generally meditate in the morning after a workout or whenever I feel my brain is packed with too much pressure.
Read Lift’s How to Meditate guide for more tips and free guided meditations.
More productivity tips from entrepreneurs:
Evan Williams: Workout When You’re Least Productive
Erin McKean: Schedule Easy, Small Tasks as Work Breaks
Chris Messina: Build Tiny Habits: They Can Be Surprisingly Powerful
Joel Gascoigne: Optimize Your Daily Routines
Buster Benson: Experiment with New Habits Regularly
Marshall Kirkpatrick: Hack the Science of Behavior Change
There is one thing that all of these entrepreneurs have in common: they’ve all built habits using Lift.
