I am often asked, if mindfulness workshops can help professionals in high-performance, high-stress workplaces like asset management, private equity and investment banking.
In response, I always share the stories of two industry leaders…
Ray Dalio of Bridgewater in his book Principles says…
“I practice meditation and believe that it has enhanced my open-mindedness, higher-level perspective, equanimity and creativity. It helps slow things down so that I can act calmly even in the face of chaos, just like a ninja in a street fight.”
Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone in his book What It Takes says…
“When I started in finance, I was ill prepared for the stress of the work. I observed that when I was the one making the decisions and the voices rose and tempers flared, my heart would beat faster and my breathing would become more shallow. I became less effective, less in control of my own cognitive responses.
The fix, I found, was to focus on my breathing, slow it down and relax my shoulders, until my breaths were long and deep. The effect was astonishing. My thoughts became clearer. I became more objective and rational about the situation at hand, about what I needed to win.”
So there it is, in their own words.
Mindfulness can help you get into and stay in your high-performance zone by shifting you from “distracted to focused" and from "overwhelmed to equanimous”.