Managing the mind.

If you ask a business owner or anyone in a management role, the most challenging task is probably people management. How do you balance optimizing work output against employee morale? Even those not in the business of managing people have one critical managerial task–managing the mind. 

The mind is like a large organization, and thoughts are like the people with different roles who work in that organization. Imagine if there isn’t someone like a CEO who can execute a unified directive or plan for the well-being of not just the shareholders but also the workforce. There would be chaos with various departments turning into ‘little islands’ concerned with only their role, forgetting how everything fits into the big picture. In the mind, if we don’t direct its energy, various competing thought forms will seek to control the mental energy. In the process, we are passively dragged along, wasting time engaging with thoughts that are not productive. 

Everyone would have seen and heard of the CEO in a large corporation with thousands of employees. But the CEO may not know each employee by name. One mass email by the CEO delivers his or her message to the entire workforce. Similarly, we wield such power over the mind. It materializes when we can step away from the mind and observe it as a whole. We then exercise that power through the force of will, which directs the mind’s energies as if we are sending a mass email to our thoughts. 

Thoughts vary in quality, not just quantity, on any given day. Some days are better than others regarding how well the mind functions. Just as underperformers in a company would likely be put on probation or let go, and overachievers probably get promoted, we can weed out unproductive thoughts. And encourage the productive ones. Gradually, the quality and power of our thoughts will improve until we have a consistent, highly effective crop of thoughts day after day. Achieving this takes time and effort. 

We can take three steps to manage the mind and optimize its performance. 

First, we must ‘show up’ for work every morning. Even a few seconds spent in a daily practice of silently affirming that “I am in charge of the mind’s energies and will direct it towards tasks A, B, or C today” will go a long way in setting the tone for the day. If we do this regularly, the mind will take us seriously and begin to respect our affirmation. Inconsistency is the death knell of mind management. The mind enslaves us to its habit patterns. But declaring our commitment forces the mind to follow our directions. 

Second, we must ‘remain at the workplace’ by not letting our attention wander so far away that we become ‘unconscious participants’ and let thoughts take charge. It is like a boss sleeping on his desk all day and letting his staff do whatever they please. Just as we drink caffeine to keep the brain sharp and alert, the best stimulant for the mind is pausing every hour and taking a few mindful deep breaths. When we become aware of the breath, we return to present awareness. The mind will then know we are back, and thoughts will fall into line. 

Third, at the end of the day, we must ‘go home’ by putting the mind into context. The mind need not be an all-pervading presence from which we cannot escape. Just as we leave our office for our home at the end of a workday, we can ‘leave’ the mind by spending a few moments with nature. If you have a water body such as a lake or a pond, look at the water and imagine the mind as one wave amongst thousands on the lake’s surface. Or look at the sky and imagine the mind as a speck of light like one star amongst thousands. This exercise will have the effect of ‘shrinking the mind.’ Most of our problems dwell in the mind. By shrinking the mind, our perspective changes, and our perceived difficulties become more manageable. In turn, we decrease the workload on the mind by not thinking deeply about our problems. 

And finally, if we thank the mind for a job well done during the day, that gratitude will lift the mind and make it more amenable to us the following day. Over time, managing the mind becomes second nature.