Productivity is one of the most crucial aspects of any organization. Having a workforce that can continue to churn out excellent work consistently is a dream that any organization out there would like to acquire. High-performing workers are always sought after, but they don’t just appear out of thin air, nor do they randomly appear on your team during recruitment processes. Companies need to get proactive and turn their current workforce into something that performs at its best.

Turning your remote workers into a high-performing team is possible, but it requires some serious work on your part. One of the best ways to ensure your remote employees improve their performance levels is by introducing them to meditation. Practicing meditation will help them train their minds to be good at applying sustained effort at work and home.

While some of your remote employees may be skeptical at first, meditation has proven to be effective in increasing productivity. Scientific research has shown that meditation improves productivity and focus. Some of the most well-known brands on the planet have adopted meditation as a way to ensure their employees improve their performance levels. According to the Harvard Business Review, Google Target and General Mills heavily invested in mindfulness to assist their employees in improving their productivity and themselves.

While the benefits of meditation range anywhere from lowering stress levels to enhancing memory, this post will focus on how meditation can help your remote workers improve their performance.

Reinforces the Prefrontal Cortex

According to NeuroReport, the primary reason why meditation is beneficial to your performance level is that meditation reinforces the prefrontal cortex. More specifically, there’s a powerful connection between meditation and increased grey matter in the prefrontal cortex. To put it another way, the neurons in your prefrontal cortex fire more seamlessly. One of the reasons why it’s so powerful is because the prefrontal cortex is the area in the brain that is responsible for plenty of our chief functions, such as focusing, planning, decision making, self-discipline, and judgment. In short, your brain will find it much easier to take productive actions and make better decisions.

Furthermore, it causes you to experience fewer chances of procrastination and instead throw yourself into the task, as the neurons operate more smoothly than before. Hence, your performance will see a vast improvement over time. Additionally, it’s been proven that the prefrontal cortex of those who practice meditation is far greater than the average person who does not meditate.

Research has been done comparing the brains of people who meditate and don’t meditate. It has revealed vital differences between the two. People who don’t meditate have brain activity associated with higher levels of distraction, running thoughts, increased level of mind wandering, and terrible focus. When it came to those who practiced meditation, they were shown to have better focus, self-awareness, and self-control. Just like muscles are built up and strengthened by going to the gym, you can improve your prefrontal cortex through meditation. Doing so will significantly impact your performance levels.

Reduces mind-wandering

One of the many reasons someone's performance declines is due to their minds wandering on other things besides work. In fact, the average person spends around 46% of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they are supposed to be doing. If you have ever found yourself physically present in a room with people close to you, but mentally you are away, then you are experiencing this situation.

Mind-wander has been shown to have connections with decreased happiness. According to a researcher by the name of Matthew A. Killingsworth, the research he conducted on this issue showed that a person's mind leaves the present and wanders through various thoughts is an indicator of their overall happiness rather than the activities in which they engage.

There is a good chance that your remote employees are experiencing this situation themselves, where they are sitting in front of the screen and having their minds wander off after only a few minutes of doing actual work. Practicing meditation has proven to help a person make their mind quieter. With the number of thoughts floating around in our minds, most of us have a terrible time with meditation or even sitting down for it.

Improves focus

Studies have shown that meditation is an effective way to improve a person’s ability to focus on their goals. The number of studies out there that have proven it is pretty astounding and is one of the many reasons why meditation has served as an effective way to improve performance levels in remote workers. Through these meditation techniques, a person learns how to hush their thoughts and instead concentrate on just a single thing. After a while, the person starts to become better and increasingly familiar with the practice, which then translates into other areas of their life, such as finishing their work.

Furthermore, meditation can develop a well-built prefrontal cortex. That is responsible for a person's ability to remain focused on their work. Hence, people who practice meditation daily will find it easier to remain focused for much longer without finding something to distract themselves from the task at hand.

Additionally, research has revealed that a person becomes distracted every 40 seconds when working in front of a computer connected to the internet. Meaning, your remote worker's performance level is suffering significantly. Meditation is one of the best and finest solutions to this massive issue.

Enhances decision making

Meditation trains the mind to become far more aware of thoughts, emotions, and actions. It leads to a far better decision-making process over time. Instead of remaining on autopilot through the workday, the employee has the presence and awareness to make calculated decisions and work with purpose. Instead of allowing emotions and urges to drive the decision-making process, meditation provides a way to gain better control over it. That assists with prioritizing better, working with more purpose, and being more strategic when executing an action.

Furthermore, it helps resist the temptation of procrastinative thoughts when they appear in front of the mind since the meditator has the awareness to do so. In short, your ability to make decisions is directly affected by performance levels.

Reduces procrastination

Since meditation can help limit mind wandering, your employees will be more engaged in their work and less likely to become distracted by something. Moreover, since meditation helps them remain focused, better disciplined, and make better decisions, they will find that they procrastinate less as a result of meditating. If they do start to procrastinate, they will have better self-awareness over it, meaning they can catch themselves much faster and use their improved cognitive abilities to get back on track more seamlessly.

Happiness improves performance

Recent research has revealed that the happier a person is, the more productive they remain in their work. According to a study published by the University of Warwick, it was discovered that happiness caused a 12% increase in productivity, while unhappy workers were 10% less likely to be productive. The research team behind this study stated, “We find that human happiness has large and positive causal effects on productivity. Positive emotions appear to invigorate human beings.”

If your employees are happier, their performance levels will increase. Think of it this way, instead of a typical task taking an hour to accomplish, it only takes them 45 minutes instead. To some, it may not seem like such a significant impact, but if you take the time to consider it, that allows your remote workers to disconnect from work earlier. That leaves them with enough time to handle any personal matters or solely relax for a short while.

Practicing meditation has been proven to rewire a person's brain for happiness. If a person manages to meditate for even a few minutes each day, they will see a gradual improvement in happiness levels as they start the day. Starting the day filled with happiness ensures that the day is much easier and keeps performance levels optimal.

Better self-discipline

Improving self-discipline to keep things like procrastination at bay can help with improving performance levels. If you frequently meditate, you will become more familiar with shutting down and overriding any inner chatter. That makes it easier to overpower any excuses or restricting beliefs whenever they appear in front of your mind. It also helps consistently come up with decisions that align with personal goals and values. In short, meditation helps with building up self-discipline.

Additionally, it has been proven by research papers that meditation improves self-discipline as the grey matter expands in your prefrontal cortex, which is one of the areas responsible for self-discipline and willpower.

Conclusion

High performance is crucial for any organization that wishes to outsmart the competition. A team of remote employees that can churn out quality work and do so efficiently is something any organization out there will want. Meditation has proven that it can assist your remote employees in multiple ways, which in turn helps your company. Encourage your remote employees to start doing meditation exercises so they can see their performance and overall health increase.