Our society has been built on productivity principles. However, since the turn of the century, many entrepreneurs, researchers, and managers alike tend to agree that a pure focus on productivity can—ironically—prove counterproductive. Fortunately, there is an alternative approach: mindful productivity.

Mindful productivity can be defined as:
being consciously present in what you’re doing, while you’re doing it, in conjunction with managing your mental and emotional states

There’s lots of research showing the health benefits of mindfulness, including better sleep, less chronic pain, and even fewer chances of depression relapse. This is partly why programs such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) are becoming so popular. But mindfulness also has other scientifically-proven benefits, such as better attention levels and better control of the effects of stress on the body and the mind.

While meditating or doing yoga can be amazing vectors for mindfulness, they’re not the only ways to stay in touch with our thoughts, feelings, and the world around us. Being mindful means interrupting the autopilot mode, taking the time to appreciate the little things, and observing your mental events.

Paying attention to the present moment—to the world around you, to your thoughts and feelings—requires to observe what’s going on inside and outside ourselves, but it doesn’t necessarily mean stopping everything we’re doing.

Mindfulness is about clearly seeing the present moment; not literally pressing the pause button.
As I’ve shared earlier my motto Be Here Now, which is top of mind for me and fits into pretty nicely.

Mindful productivity is about calmly acknowledging and accepting your feelings and thoughts while engaged in work or creative activities.
It’s a way to give us new perspectives on work, life, the creation process; helping us enjoy the work and better understand ourselves, providing focus.

Principles of mindful productivity

Things can get hectic, so how do you become more mindful in the context of a busy work day? How can you apply mindfulness principles at work?
The good news is you don’t need to meditate every day to experience the benefits of mindful productivity.
There are a few ways you can inject mindfulness strategies into your work day so you can perform at your best while managing your mental health. Here are the key principles:

1. Free yourself from past and future worries. Don’t get trapped in reliving past work problems or pre-living future worries.
2. Watch your thoughts and emotions at work. This is not about judging your emotional and mental states, but about being aware of them, accepting them, and moving on so you can get back to being productive.
3. Get in the flow. To achieve a flow state, you need to find the right balance between the challenge of the activity and your own skills levels.
4. Avoid multitasking.
5. Question your procrastination. Struggling to get motivated? Understanding the emotions behind procrastination is essential to overcome it.
6. Cultivate your curiosity. In order to be productive and creative, make sure to balance your input and output. Observe the world, take time to learn, ask questions, don’t take anything for granted.
7. Develop a growth mindset. Having a growth mindset means you believe you can improve your intelligence and skills with hard work. Having a growth mindset is linked to better resilience and better long-term performance. Question your fixed mindset attitudes and practice the “not yet” technique (“I don’t know how to code” become “I don’t know how to code yet”).
8. Pay attention to your work environment. It’s easy to just come into the office—or if you work from home, to come open your laptop—and start working without questioning your work environment. Be mindful of where you work and how it affects your productivity.
9. Take mindful breaks. Not just getting up to grab a cup of coffee, but instead using breaks to remind yourself to be mindful of your thoughts, emotions, and your environment.

The principles at the core of mindful productivity are reasonably simple: be present, bring your full attention to your work, and be aware of your thoughts, emotions, as well as your work environment.

You will be more productive, more creative, and overall will enjoy work better.