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Mental distraction is the antithesis of productivity. If you can win from within you’re going to put yourself ahead of most.
The main mindfulness practice I’ll cover on this page is meditation, but you can also achieve mindfulness through yoga, breathing exercises, long walks and other exercises where the focus is on being present.
Gaining mindfulness is one of the most powerful and important techniques to incorporate into your daily routine. In fact I’d go far as to say it’s going to be the next big cultural wave over the next decade becoming a mainstream staple of society. If you have clarity and can live in the now, you are already at such an advantage over everyone else addicted to checking their phone and living in such a distracted state.
For this guide I want to start by showcasing mobile apps that can help you develop a meditation practice which is the most practiced mindfulness exercise. From there we’ll look at books, videos, resources, and finally other mindfulness activities you can incorporate into your life.
A perfect introduction to mindfulness mobile app. Headspace is what I used to get acquainted with meditation and develop a consistent mindfulness practice. The Basics course teaches you why meditation is more than just sitting still and not focusing on thoughts, and teaches you how to control your breathing to gain clarity and focus of mind. After 10 days of the Basics you will already see the importance of being mindful and present in your life and will hopefully continue on to one of their other packs. All are narrated by Andy Puddicombe’s soothing voice. A former Tibetan Buddhist monk, Andy’s guided meditation narrations are a big reason I stuck with the habit of meditating.
If you own a Smart Home device (Amazon Echo or Google Home) you can play your meditation sessions from the speaker which is really handy in the morning to simply say a command without touching your phone and getting distracted. 🙂
Free Content: The ‘Basics’ 10 sessions are free each at 10 minutes long.
If you want an app that will deep dive how you can harness your mind and really fine tune the practice of mindfulness than Sam Harris has an app for you! I’ve long followed his podcast which always is interesting in expanding my mind be it about consciousness, psychology, politics, or tech. So when his app was announced I was instantly excited to give it a try.
What I like is that there are 2 tracks here: Lessons & Meditations. Lessons guide you through the ‘why’ we are meditating so you get a better understanding of what your goal for meditating is. And the meditations track takes you through your 1st 50 days meditating.
Free Content: 6 free lessons totaling ~29 minutes and 8 free meditations totaling ~66 min.
If you’re someone whose fidgety and normal meditation has never been for you than I implore you to give tapping a try. Rather than sitting still and counting your breaths you’ll actively ‘tap’ on accupressure points and begin to condition your body to lower its stress. You can tap against any strong negative feeling or overwhelming fear from a fear of public speaking or a feeling of lethargy and not wanting to be productive.
Free Content: Easily the most free content of any of the aforementioned with a free meditation included in every category (over 12 categories) and many season collections are released completely for free
Simple habit was the second mindfulness app I used once I began to branch out from Headspace, and to this day it’s still downloaded on my phone! What I like is when on-boarding you select certain situations that fit how you’re feeling and get back custom tailored selections to fit those situations. So for example I selected “Be more in control of my mind” during on-boarding and the next screen provides you choices of when to meditate to keep you accountable in building this habit (See the 2nd screenshot below)
Each track is narrated by a different person, which is nice to give you different perspectives and personalities to choose from.
Free Content: It contains a lot of free content including a full sleep course with a bunch of soundtracks to drift off to sleep. Overall I’d say there are over 20+ free meditations making this your choice when a quick mindfulness session is needed.
by Bhante Gunaratana
This book is a classic because it’s very approachable and equally as easy to distill these learnings into a daily practice. This book will teach you the essentials in detail: Structuring your meditations, dealing with distractions, mindfulness versus concentration,
by Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations are a perfect introduction to stoicism and living a purposeful life. This book was actually his diary he was writing for himself so it’s full of practical and insightful information. This was my starting point into living a mindful life and actively trying to enjoy the day and not live in a future thinking state. So this always makes my list of ‘most recommended’ books for friends and family.
by Dan Harris
Dan does a great job of bringing mindfulness into today’s modern and ultra busy lives. All of his stories are practical and easily relatable as you provides context into how he developed a daily mindfulness practice. Whereas Meditations by Marcus Aurelius talks about human principles thousands of years old, Dan relates those same principles to us today in a modern setting.
In 15 seconds you can have a mindful moment and relax your entire body. I follow this breathing exercise whenever I feel overly distracted or stressed. Repeat this exercise as many times as you need in one sitting
Meditation isn’t the only mindfulness activity you can engage in. In fact there’s many things you already do that act as mindful activities and let you enjoy being in a state of relax. For example going for a long walk or run is very therapeutic (especially if you leave your phone at home!). Working out and even eating a meal can be mindful activities if you put your focus on being present. The key here is to be present in whatever activity you’re engaging in. Here are some common activities that if done right can be mindful and liberating for you. 😊
Email ProductivityStack[at]gmail.com to submit productivity tools or resources you use that we haven’t included!
Or reach out if you want your product, service, or company included!
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By brad
