Meditation Retreats

Jack Dorsey said he meditated two hours a day “just to stay afloat” while running Twitter and Square. I tried it myself and felt calmer but less productive.

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, tries to meditate for two hours each day and has attended several meditation retreats.Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter on Monday after nearly 16 years at the helm. Dorsey remains CEO of Square, which changed its name to Block two days after leaving Twitter.

The move follows activist investor concerns over Dorsey’s double-CEO appearances, claiming his attention and time was divided.

Dorsey said he was able to handle the stress of running two businesses at once by implementing a rigorous wellness plan that included walking five miles to work, two hours of meditation, and eating one meal a day to take. The lifestyle allowed him to “stay afloat” at work, he said.

“When I went back to Twitter and took the second job, I became very serious about meditating.” he said during an appearance on The Boardroom: Out of Office podcast.

I couldn’t really focus on following his entire routine so I tried meditating for 15 minutes twice a day to see how this could affect my work life.

Dorsey specifically practiced Vipassana meditation, an ancient Buddhist meditation technique that often involves 10 days of silence. Also known as “insight meditation”, its guiding principle is non-judgment.

Unlike other meditative practices that focus on a specific mantra or visualization, you shouldn’t consciously control your thoughts during Vipassana. Instead, you acknowledge any wandering thoughts and immediately return to your breath, ultimately seeking a calmer and more focused mind.

Dorsey isn’t the only technology CEO who swears by technology as the secret of success. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, was so convinced of its benefits that the software giant added a meditation room on every floor of its San Francisco office.

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Here’s how meditation affected my performance at work after being given 15 minutes twice a day for over a week.

I found the best times to meditate were right after waking up and switching between tasks

I had read on the internet that vipassana meditation works best in the morning, but was nervous that the calming ritual would get me back to sleep in an instant. I’ve never been a morning person and rely heavily on coffee to start my day.

So I was really surprised that when I meditated I felt very awake immediately after waking up, no caffeine needed. Although I closed my eyes 15 minutes longer than I normally would, the concentrated breathing helped clear out any brain fog that normally lingers at my desk for the first hour.

I experienced similar effects when I meditated between the task changes that usually fell around noon. The moments when I feel least focused at work are when I have to switch from one article to the next, or from writing to interview. Meditating in between created a buffer and allowed my mindset to focus on my next task.

I felt noticeably less stressed, but not necessarily more productive

Although I noticed that meditation helped me lower my anxiety levels, I found that it was more beneficial than doing short-term tasks in terms of solving high-level problems.

Usually, I get a healthy dose of stress and adrenaline through breaking news and daily deadlines. Vipassana meditation doesn’t allow you to act on the checklist in your head and forces you to get a bird’s eye view of things which I found helpful in creative brainstorming and goal setting.

Sitting still for 15 minutes without the distraction was a lot harder than I thought

On the first day of this experiment, I thought I wouldn’t make it through the week. Part of Vipassana is observing – but not responding to – sensations such as the urge to fidget, stretch, or even itch. Fifteen minutes of sitting upright and tightening my core made me become very conscious of any physical pain.

But after the first five minutes, focusing on my breath felt a lot more natural and intuitive. The hardest part was putting my phone down, closing my laptop, and convincing myself that I had 15 minutes in the middle of the day.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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