Cutting through the Bullsh*t: The midday meditation 🧘‍♂️

Ever feel bombarded with tons of articles on tips and tricks for how to be more productive, to have a better day at work, to reduce burnout? Can’t determine which ones are effective or are a waste of time?

We know, it's a struggle! And that’s why at Hold, we’re trying something new - “The Weekly Challenge.” We want to cut through the bullsh*t, help you figure out which tips and tricks truly work, and report back what we honestly think!

Which brings us to our first challenge (drumroll please!) “The Midday Meditation” - a 10- 20 minute meditation session everyday.

As you know meditation has many benefits but does a quick 10 minute meditation session really help to refresh and refocus for the rest of your day?

To make it easy we’ll look at 3 criteria in order to assess:

How helpful was it for focus and productivity:

Honestly, there were some mixed reviews on this one. Many of us started off our week listening to the calming sounds of a yoga Spotify playlist through the Hold meditation purpose. But, if you aren’t particularly skilled in the art of meditation, a guided one might be the best route. Once we figured what worked for us, it completely changed the game and helped in being able to fully relax. However it can, at times, be too relaxing and made us a tad bit sleepy.

Was it easy to implement:

As a team, the biggest challenge we struggled with was remembering to actually do it. Reminders are a MUST. Put it in your calendar, remind each other before lunch, and put it over your slack channels.

Did we enjoy it:

In short, yes. Although it may not have helped to refocus or magically improve our productivity for the afternoon. It was a calming break, one that provided relaxation, some “me time” and the opportunity to release some stress or anxiety from the morning.

Overall, we really enjoyed the midday meditation but realised it isn’t something you can implement and see results from in just one week. It’s a long term tool that does have value and is something that we will continue to try out.

If you have any tips and tricks that help you to improve productivity, wellbeing or overall daily life feel free to comment. We’d love to try them out for our next weekly challenge.