I’ve just watched “All it takes is 10 mindful minutes” – a TedTalk from Andy Puddicombe, and I think it’s one worth watching for all freelancers out there.
A former Buddhist monk and founder of Headspace, Andy aims to bring meditation to the masses by stripping back the mystery element and showing us how it’s relevant to our everyday lives.
A couple of quotes stood out of the talk for me,
When did you last take any time to do nothing? And when I say nothing, I do mean nothing – so, that’s no emailing, texting, or internet. No TV, no chatting, no eating, no reading – not even sitting there reminiscing about the past or planning for the future. Simply doing nothing.
I think this is really relevant to work-from-home freelancers – let’s be honest, if we give ourselves a ten minute downtime tea break, what do we end up doing? Checking emails, reading that article we saved for later, watching a TedTalk…. and then, should we have some time without a project on the go, we’re more than likely either reflecting on our past work or planning for how our business will develop.
Which leads into quote number two…
We’re talking about our mind. The mind, our most valuable and precious resource, through which we experience every single moment of our life. (…) This is the same mind that we depend upon to be focused, creative, spontaneous, and to perform at our very best in everything that we do. And yet, we don’t take any time out to look after it.
This really resonates for a linguist freelancer, and no doubt many others whose business revolves around creativity – designers, developers…
In today’s world where there is so much information being flung at freelancers from the internet; where we have an ever increasing range of software to make our working lives easier and our brains softer; where there are constant pinging demands on our attention – I think it is more important than ever before to take 10 mindful minutes each day. Look after your brain – it’s your freelance business’s most valuable resource.