At a time when more than a third of the UK workforce is experiencing some form of anxiety, stress or depression at work, looking after our mental health both in and out of the office has never been more important.
Here, we speak to Louise Cox Chester, founder and managing director at Mindfulness at Work, about how and why workplace stress has affected her career.
It all started…
‘About 25 years ago. I was working in the city as an investment analyst and I was out on a trading floor, running big financial models, working with clients, speaking to traders – it was pretty crazy! I was constantly in that sort of flight or fight mode. My stress levels were raised from the moment I woke up, I found it very hard to relax and was expending a lot of unnecessary energy. The way I felt at work totally took over other aspects of my life. I think it would be fair to describe myself as “woman on the verge”!
‘One day I happened to meet a neighbour of mine who had locked herself out of her flat. She was actually a breakfast TV presenter but I had no idea who she was because I was always at work! I invited her into my flat while she waited for things to be sorted out and she calmly sat on my sofa drinking a cup of earl grey. I was the one who was anxious for her! Everything she needed for work was locked in her flat AND she had a flight to catch! Anyway, it all worked out, and when she came back from her trip a few days later she invited me round for Sunday lunch to say thank you for rescuing her. That’s when I discovered that she and her partner practiced mindfulness.’
Discovering mindfulness
‘I was so puzzled by how come relaxed they seemed under pressure – the total opposite to me. So, I asked them to teach me the practice and within a few months I just felt completely different. So much happier, more focussed, calmer… I had more clarity, better relationships with colleagues and my team at work, I was getting on better with my family and I was arriving home earlier most nights. I’d just got the balance back in my life.
‘Within six months, I was number one rated in my sector globally and had been headhunted to be a director at another company. I went on to be a board director, a head of research, a global sector head – all these big jobs but the one thing that kept me not only good at what I did but also able to sustain it was mindfulness.
‘I practiced mindfulness throughout, and even taught colleagues, clients and family how to do it. Then, eight years ago, I retired from the city and set up a not-for-profit retreat centre at my home. I suddenly realised that there was all this science showing that the practice I’d been doing for all these years worked because it changed the structure and the function of my brain. Through these exercises I was making my mind more fit for purpose. I remember standing in the courtyard of my home, the retreat centre, and thinking I have to take what I know back into the corporate world.’
Making it work at work
‘Almost 50% of the time, people’s minds are wandering – they’re not at work. So, what we teach is corporate-based mindfulness; how to cope with emails, how to have better functioning meetings, how to be more present with colleagues, how to communicate more effectively… And a lot of it comes from being able to manage your attention.
‘If you take the analogy of the gym, you can read a book about the gym, you can pay for a membership, but unless you actually go and do the exercise your body is not going to change. If you do go to the gym, you can go to the relaxed yoga class, or you can go to the spin class for lungs of steel. So, what the mindfulness training does is it kind of gives you both in that it calms you and makes you feel more positive because you’re focussed on one thing at a time and not getting distracted, but you’re also training your attention “muscles”. Even if you do just 10 minutes of mindfulness a day and for 4-5 weeks, you’ll start to see the benefits.’
Top tips
DON’T do your daily practice at work. What you want to do is find a time – on the train in, before you leave in the morning, before you go to bed at night or during your lunch break – where you can sit down and do your mind training. It’s not that much, just 10 minutes, and you’ll get it back during the day.
REMEMBER that weekends and holidays really disrupt your practice. If your usual routine is disrupted, try and find an alternative time to practice.
TAKE A PAUSE whenever you can. Maybe set an alarm to do it on the hour, and these can be as short or as long as you can make them. But literally it’s just about being present. Feel your feet as you walk between meetings, appreciate what it feels like to be walking. Something like that works really well before you’ve got a call with someone or a big meeting.
NOTICE YOUR BREATH in your body, and what it feels like physically. Just count five breaths and do nothing else.
PAY ATTENTION when somebody is speaking in a meeting. That in itself is a mindfulness exercise. Put an OOO on or leave your device in a drawer, whatever you do try to multitask as little as possible. Whatever you choose to focus on, just give it your full attention, and all of those things will build your ability to sustain attention.
DO try to take a lunch break that’s not at your desk. No emails as you eat!
