Three Factors That Prove Meditation Supports Productivity

A lot of research links meditation to small positive outcomes like peace and happiness, but what about the outcome most people prioritize in different circumstances: productivity?

Many attribute their productivity to meditation. For example, Yuval Noah Harari, author of the world's best-selling book Sapiens, spends two months a year in a silent retreat just monitoring his thoughts, saying that without the focus that silence provides, he could not have written his books. For American talk show host Oprah Winfrey, meditation encourages a sense of stillness and gives her space to do her work and live her life better.

How Can Meditation Boost Productivity?

Science well supports the idea that meditation can boost productivity; the possible reasons are many, from reduced stress and emotional reactivity to increased self-control and energy.

But let's focus on only these three:

1. Improved Decision Making

Researchers in Pennsylvania have investigated whether meditation reduces the sunk cost bias, which is the tendency to continue with something just for the sake of investing money, time, or effort in it.

For example, you may eat more than you want because the food has already been prepared, or you may remain in a bad relationship because you have been in it for years, or you may continue to work on a project that seems to never see the light of day because you have already started it. Does that ring a bell?

The researchers divided the participants into two groups: one that practiced mindfulness and one that lived in a state of mind wandering. They either focused on their breath (mindfulness) or thought about what came to mind (mind wandering).

Then they had to make an important decision. Imagine they were the CEOs of a printing company that had just paid $200,000 for a new machine. They knew that one of the competitors had gone bankrupt and was selling their printing press for only $10,000, which is 50% faster and needs half the cost to run. Should they buy it?

While 44% in the distracted state answered no, most in the waking state (78%) answered yes and refused to compromise on the company's future because the money was spent on an old, worn-out printing machine.

2. Thoughtful control

Doing our best work requires us to stay focused. One of the measures of attention control is the “two back” task, which involves presenting letters one at a time and periodically asking participants if the letter they are now looking at is the same as the letter that appeared two letters earlier, is one of the methods used to measure attention control.

To examine whether mindfulness meditation boosts performance on this task, researchers had some individuals focus on their breath (the state of mindfulness) and others listen to an audiobook such as Lord of the Rings (the state of control). Not only did people in a state of mindfulness show superior attention control, but meditation also reduced fatigue and anxiety. So if you find yourself prone to distraction, lethargy, or anxiety, spending time taking care of your breath may get you back on track.

3. Problem Solving

Einstein once said, “We can't solve our problems with the same thinking we used when they appeared,” but how do we change our thinking? And how do we prepare ourselves to see the solutions to these problems?

Researchers in the Netherlands studied whether creative problem-solving could be enhanced by Open-Monitoring meditation (OM), In which an individual is interested in any feelings or thoughts that arise. Researchers specifically wondered whether this method could promote divergent thinking, which is known to generate many ideas when there is more than one solution to a problem.

The Alternate Uses Task (AUT) has been used to evaluate divergent thinking. People create as many uses for this task as possible; for example, bricks can be used as a staircase, paperweight, or dumbbell.

After considering Open-Monitoring (OM), participants performed significantly better on the AUT task; in addition to coming up with more uses, their thinking was more flexible (uses were more diverse) and distinctive (uses were more distinct than those suggested by others).

In conclusion: where to start?

If you're interested in meditating despite time constraints, note that many of the above benefits can be achieved with short sessions of up to 5 minutes, and if the thought of taking care of your breath sounds too dull, make sure this isn't the only way.

In his book Wherever you go, there you are, John Kabat-Zinn summarizes a range of practices, from walking meditation to portraying himself as a mountain surrounded by forests and meadows. So if improving decision-making, focus, and problem-solving sounds good to you, why not give meditation a chance? It may just be the key to unleashing your potential.