If your immediate response is that you don’t have time for a mindfulness practice, I will counter that I don’t think you can afford not to have one, especially as a small business owner. 

The benefits for your business include improved access to creative thinking, innovation, problem-solving, and productivity. 

Did I get your attention? I hope so. 

It was a joy to be part of this panel on the BOLD Business Podcast with host Jess Dewell. In “Mindfulness and Creativity: Unlock Your Business Potential,” Claire Uncapher, Clinical Nurse and Intuitive Life Coach, and Dr. Janice Campbell, Acupuncturist and Herbalist, and I discussed how to change your relationship with time to be more creative in business.

From the show page:

Mindfulness in business is a hot topic, and we take this concept further. It is MORE than self-care in relation to doing your important work — the practice means being your own advocate for how you approach, integrate, and set up your success to tap into the creativity you already have within. Set aside current thoughts about mindfulness in business to be able to shift your thinking to make work more fulfilling and fun, and the challenges you face worth the necessary effort.

Several of the panelists didn’t love the word “mindfulness,” for different reasons, but we all agreed on its importance. Below is some of what I had to say: 

This is such a juicy topic! The links between mindfulness and creativity in business, we could probably talk about this for hours, but there’s a couple things that jump to mind. Let’s first talk about creativity as a component of innovation. You don’t have innovative ideas in a box. They come from creative thinking and creative problem-solving.

And if there’s one thing that we need right now in these crazy times is a way to drop into being present and having space for ideas to land. That is how I like to think about it. 

We need brain space so that the ideas can come in, and we need physical spaces to manifest the ideas and put them into practice.

There isn’t a business right now that isn’t struggling to keep up with the rate of change of business, of markets, of technology. And the way that you can do that, oddly enough, is to slow down. You’re not going to get good ideas if you’re running around on the hamster wheel with your hair on fire. They just don’t have any place to be. 

I think mindfulness is a critical skill for being a leader personally and professionally. Mindfulness can be a trip switch so you don’t get drawn into the conversation that you know is gonna go sideways. You don’t hit send for that flame mail that you’ll have to back away from for months or years.

If people were going to only work on one skill over the next 6 months to a year, mindfulness might be the one to pick.

The other panelists added both complementary and different perspectives. It really was a fascinating conversation that I think you will enjoy. 

Photo by Lesly Juarez on Unsplash