Why founders should practice mindfulness
This post was inspired by a talk I did a couple weeks ago at the Mindfulness Summit along with my Dad @petermread, a partner @GoogleVentures. I work with lots of founders @efLDN where we help the best technical individuals from across Europe to build startups in London.
Mindfulness is going mainstream. Headspace counts Emma Watson and Gwyneth Paltrow amongst their millions of users, and huge companies like Google, Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police have introduced mindfulness courses for their employees. The trend is perhaps most pronounced in Silicon Valley — Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn), Dustin Moscowitz (Facebook), Evan Williams (ex-Twitter, Medium), and Steve Jobs (Apple) have all practiced and praised it, with many of our founders on EF following suit.
The concept is simple: train your brain through meditation to pay close, non-judgmental attention to the emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment. So why should founders do it?
Mindfulness can change your brain
Traditionally the Buddhists meditated to achieve tranquility, concentration and insight. Anecdotally, it worked. The modern answer to ‘why’, however, is based soundly in advances in neuroscience — sustained mindfulness practice causes real, observable changes in the brain associated with, for example:
- Decreased activity in areas of the brain associated with mind-wandering combined with increased activity in areas associated with focus and cognitive control (1)(2)
- Decreased activity in the amygdala, associated with reduction in stress and anxiety (3)
- Increased activity in the left frontal cortex, associated with positive mood (3)
Mindfulness changes your brain. Neuroplasticity is the term used to describe these changes, and means that your brain is like a muscle that can be trained.
The effects are so pronounced that mindfulness has been found to be as effective at treating depression and anxiety as antidepressants and is now a treatment recommended by the NHS.
You can train yourself to be a better founder
Starting a company is hard — you’re working in a very uncertain environment and are probably being told no all the time by lots of different people. This is stressful and anxiety inducing, and often a very isolating experience. On EF, we’ve consistently found that the biggest killer of early stage startups is that the founders give up.
Mindfulness can protect your brain from the downside of being a risk-taking entrepreneur. It allows your brain to be more resilient to stress and anxiety. It can unlock the upside too — greater focus and creativity mean that you and your team and much better able to tackle problems and get stuff done.
I’ve found mindfulness training to be incredibly powerful. This is both from a personal point of view and from that of an observer to our founders on EF who practice too.
Shaun Dowling, CTO of EF alumni company Interpretive, has been practicing mindfulness for about a year. He says “the main benefit I have experienced is focus… the number of problems I have been able to solve in the time during or just after meditating is amazing.” He’s also experienced massive stress reduction, meaning he doesn’t get burnout during the day “anything like as much as I used to.” This is just one story of many.
There is a demonstrable ROI on mindfulness training and we should embrace this trend to support a healthier and happier wave of founders who can build better companies as a result.
If you’re interested in starting to practice mindfulness, or want to learn more, here are some great resources:
Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World
