Mindfulnestech and my quest for entrepreneurial zen

How can you make your mind your biggest entrepreneurial ally? Mindfulness-preneurs are crafting an answer.

They face all the usual startup frustrations.”That idea will never work!” “How can I ever make this profitable?” “Good luck trying to scale that…”

Like you and me, this could drive them to want to bang their heads on the table. But, they should practice what they preach. If they don’t live their zen philosophy, they will probably struggle to build a committed fan base.

How then do these gurus keep a peaceful interior? As a regular meditator myself I set out to uncover their habits. My port of call: Calm, Headspace and Muse, three fast-growing mindfulness-tech ventures.

Calm HQ gave me one clear recommendation: “Our team actually meditates together each morning for 10 minutes.” they shared. “This is a great way to start our day.”

That makes a lot of sense. Many founders start their working day disjointed, heads buzzing with endless to-do lists. Some breathing exercises can help focus this energy.

And imagine doing this with colleagues… Embarrassing at first, perhaps, but won’t it make you feel a bit more connected with your team? This is definitely true for me.

The Headspace management take this practice one step further. I’m told each meeting is kickstarted by “specially recorded” 2 minute meditation exercises. These are designed to boost both the creativity and focus of meeting participants.

Just picture it: “And for the first item on the agenda, everyone please take a deep breath and start to feel the air through your nostrils and into your lungs…”

Waste of time? I’m not so sure. If these 120 seconds help reduce meeting chatterbox behaviour – too much blah-blah, too little listening – it may well be a welcome innovation.

Headspace also gets their architects thinking zen. They have designed single-person meditation pods – these have a “curvilinear” shape to encourage a “peaceful, immersive experience, without complete isolation”.

My final startup of interest, Muse, add a competitive spirit to mindfulness. They’ve established a meditation league between their business areas, with perks available for those progressing up the ranks (free lunch, team outing, days off).

This initiative has a noticeable impact on the water cooler moments. “It creates a lot of discussion around benefits of meditation, and how it makes you feel” I’m told.

And all employees are game-on: “There are people here that are very spiritual. But also those that are more scientifically-focused, who see meditation about creating new neural pathways and breaking down old ones.”

These mindfulness-preneurs have inspired the corporate giants – around 25% of Fortune 500 companies are now introducing mindfulness programmes. What’s stopping you from embracing the M-factor?

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