Meditation based on mindfulness has its roots in a 2000 year-old Buddhist tradition. Mindfulness is about focusing the mind on the present moment and accepting things as they are. Mindfulness helps with anxiety, depression and stress; it is also good for job satisfaction, relationship quality, sleep and decision making.
Mindfulness does not lead to increased motivation
An article published on the website of the INSEAD business school tried to answer the question of whether mindfulness also has a downside.
Since it is based on experiencing and accepting the present moment, it may be somehow less positive for achieving goals. Motivation comes when you are not satisfied with the current state of the world. In order to be motivated, one needs to be focusing on the future and feeling energised.
It seems there could be a tension between being mindful and being motivated. The results of the tests were clear: after meditating, people lacked motivation. They didn’t feel like working at all; their sense of calm and concentration resulted in a lesser need to get things done.
Impact on performance
Does mindfulness also influence how people perform their tasks? No such effect of mindfulness was recorded: it seems that people who meditate perform equally well as people who do not meditate. The effect of mindfulness in terms of focusing better on the task at hand appears to be not so strong – probably because of the lack of motivation. Thus in terms of fulfilling tasks, the benefits of mindfulness are evidently negated by the lack of motivation.
-jk-