Please see Part 4 of the series here.
Last week we covered why the brain seems so tethered to negative thinking, and today we’ll talk about what happens when you wallow in this state. The goal is to call a spade a spade, so that when we talk about generative, positive thinking next week, we will feel particularly motivated to enact the discipline to lift ourselves out of negative patterns of the mind.
Intentional Negative Thinking
Mindlessness is intentional, negative thinking. Now, you might think “wait, doesn’t mindlessness imply a certain automaticity of thought?” Not quite. There is nuance here when you specifically think about intent. Mindlessness occurs when you intentionally decide to check out of life. For example, my classic mindless activity is watching Below Deck while eating my lunch. Exquisitely fun times: I know the show will take me away from whatever I’m ruminating on and give me a break from whatever I’ve trying to resolve. A little mindlessness feels relaxing and rejuvenating, no doubt.
Mindlessness becomes negative and unproductive, however, when you deliberately stay in a state of mindlessness for too long. Now, “too long” does represent a subjective amount, but the gist is that it causes problems for you. For me, “too long” means that I realize I am mindlessly watching TV to avoid doing some reasonable work; to ignore the fact that I need to prepare dinner; to steer clear of engaging in that meaningful conversation with my partner.
For an entrepreneur, mindless states actually represent a rather large issue, namely because of the stress inherent in the occupation. Entrepreneurs, with their greater likelihood of seeking risk, with their greater responsibilities to numerous stakeholders, with their crucial task of offering something extremely novel to the market, take on extraordinary stress. Mindlessness may feel like the only option to recuperate. Mindfulness, by comparison, does take effort, intention and action. Mindlessness requires only – for the most of us – just unlocking our phone.
And yet, you will not be surprised to hear that mindfulness offers a far better antidote to stress and burnout than mindlessness, to entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs alike. Here’s why: when you rest in mindfulness, specifically mindfulness during a reasonably easy task (e.g., mindfulness meditation; while taking a walk outside), you stop to see that the whirring of your brain that currently causes you stress is nothing more than that: just thoughts, floating through, floating by. Mindlessness treats the stress thoughts as real, dangerous, and needing to be ignored and shunned through deliberate checking out. Of course, once your check-out time is over, the confronting thoughts rush back to the surface of your consciousness, as menacing as before.
Mindfulness, on the other hand, asks you to courageously see that all these swirls of thoughts causing your stress are arising, and as you see them arise, as you watch them, you see that they are also fading. The proverbial mindfulness metaphor is: thoughts, emotions, urges, cravings – all of your cognition – moves through your mind like the weather. Stress thoughts and emotions represent dark, potentially fear-inducing storms. But through mindfulness, when you watch the storm in your mind, you see that it moves – sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but it does move to reveal clear blue sky again. Stressful imaginings in your mind feel more reasonable when you can step back and see that their intensity will fade. And, as we will talk about next in this series, it is from that blue sky space that you can take appropriate action to manage your stressors, rather than reflexively, mindlessly checking out. For entrepreneurs, the resiliency to cope with urges to be mindless are deeply essential given the often ever-changing, uncertain and even chaotic circumstances you find yourself in.
Up Next:
In the last two posts, we covered ruminative and mindless thinking. Enough doom and gloom! Next week, we’ll talk about capitalizing on the optimistic, growth-oriented habits of the mind.
Mindfulness Reflection:
- Where are you mindless? How can you apply mindfulness skill to stop checking out?
Questions?
Reach out to Professor Grace Lemmon at glemmon@depaul.edu if you have questions about this post. Or, if your company is interested in applied mindfulness training, Professor Lemmon is happy to connect with you through collaboration with DePaul University Executive Education.
This is Part 5 in the Spring Cleaning for the Entrepreneurial Mind Series by Associate Professor Grace Lemmon.
- Read Part 4: How Entrepreneurs Can Use Mindfulness to Shift Away From Ruminative Thinking
- Read Part 3: Habits of the Mind
- Read Part 2: Why should entrepreneurs be mindful?
- Read Part 1: What is mindfulness, and what is its basic practice?
Grace Lemmon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship in the Driehaus College of Business. A research expert on topics related to stress management, including burnout, engagement, work detachment and work recovery, Professor Lemmon is particularly interested in how people develop more fulfilling relationships with work through value alignment. One of her most popular course is The Mindful Leader, which explores how to apply mindfulness to be a better leader of others and oneself.