Meditation: The Missing Ingredient in Your Career?

Think of meditation as the province of Buddhist monks, gurus in caves and yoga devotees? Then perhaps you'd be surprised to learn that a wide spectrum of successful career-minded folks from Tiger Woods to Harvard Business School professors engage in the time-honored practice of training the mind in focus and clarity. Still think meditation sounds too touchy-feely for you? As an article in the London Evening Standard points out, high-flying organizations from Google to NASA offer meditation classes to staff.
The paper points out that "meditation not only helps focus but it is also an effective preventative treatment of stress-related illnesses that cost businesses billions every year." It can also be a head-clearing counterpoint to our always-plugged-in culture as Keith Ferrazzi, author of the best-selling book Never Eat Lunch Alone, notes. His annual meditation retreat "is the one time of year when he stops networking and clears his mind." Finally, one MIT academic who studies meditation's effects on the brain argues that the practice "helps business people sweep away the tacit assumptions which so often lead to problems." Maybe meditation is the missing ingredient in your frenetic work life? If you're interested in learning more, check out the article.
(Image of meditation by SuperFantastic, CC 2.0)