Does Mindfulness Actually Make You Happier (or Better) at Work? | Prof. Lindsey Cameron
Professor Lindsey Cameron, a Wharton School professor, discusses mindfulness in the workplace, her research on its benefits for helpfulness and bias reduction, and practical tips for integrating micro-mindfulness moments. She also shares insights from her research on the gig economy and work-life balance.
Deep Dive Analysis
15 Topic Outline
Lindsey Cameron's Journey to Mindfulness and Spirituality
From Intelligence to Academia: Research on Work and Technology
Mindfulness in the Workplace: Prevalence and Effectiveness
The McMindfulness Debate: Critiques and Benefits
Research Findings: Breath-Based vs. Loving-Kindness Meditation at Work
Limitations of Mindfulness Practices in Atonement
Integrating Mindfulness into Daily Work Routines
Mindfulness for Jobs with High Emotional Labor
Best Practices for Introducing Mindfulness in Organizations
Gig Economy Research: Autonomy, Control, and Algorithms
Advice for Gig Workers: Building Structure and Skills
Applying Gig Economy Learnings to Hybrid and Remote Work
The Shorter Work Week Debate
Bringing Your Whole Self to Work: Identity and Boundaries
Addressing the Glorification of Stress and Hustle Culture
6 Key Concepts
McMindfulness
This term refers to the critique of the popularization and mainstreaming of mindfulness and meditation, particularly its incorporation into corporate settings. Critics argue that this decontextualizes and strips away the deep spiritual roots of these practices, reducing them to mere emotional regulation strategies, while proponents acknowledge that even in a watered-down form, it can still be helpful to many.
Synchronization
Synchronization describes the process of blending different traditions or ideas, such as intertwining Catholicism with traditional African beliefs. In the context of mindfulness, it refers to how ancient practices are adapted and morphed to fit new cultural contexts, like modern capitalistic society, often leading to legitimate critiques but also helping people.
Cognitive Empathy
Cognitive empathy involves intellectually understanding another person's perspective or situation. In the context of meditation, breath-based practices tend to enhance this by centering individuals in the present moment, allowing them to treat others in a way that considers both parties' highest good.
Emotional Empathy
Emotional empathy is the ability to actually feel or put oneself emotionally in another person's shoes, making the border between self and other more porous. Loving-kindness meditation is shown to activate this mechanism, leading to a deeper, felt understanding of others' experiences.
Emotional Labor
Emotional labor occurs in jobs where an individual must present an exterior emotional state that does not match their interior feelings, such as a flight attendant consistently maintaining a pleasant demeanor. Research suggests that traditional mindfulness practices in these roles can sometimes be counterproductive due to the disconnect between internal and external states.
Integrators vs. Segmenters
These terms describe different approaches to work-life boundaries. Segmenters maintain strict divisions between work and home, while integrators blend them, often working from various locations or responding to work outside traditional hours. Gig workers are often forced to be integrators, necessitating routines to create boundaries even within integration.
9 Questions Answered
Research shows that mindfulness practices in the workplace can lead to individual benefits like improved emotional regulation, self-compassion, and self-awareness, and can increase helpfulness among customer-facing workers, though direct links to firm-wide productivity increases are not yet established.
The 'McMindfulness' critique argues that mainstreaming meditation, especially in corporate settings, strips away its deep spiritual roots and decontextualizes the practice. While valid in its concerns about simplification, Professor Cameron believes that even in its adapted forms, it still helps people, suggesting both the critique and the benefits can be true simultaneously.
A study found that both breath-based and loving-kindness practices increased helpfulness at work, but through different mechanisms: breath-based practices fostered cognitive empathy (understanding others' perspectives), while loving-kindness meditation cultivated emotional empathy (feeling oneself in others' shoes).
A follow-on study found that when making a mistake at work, only loving-kindness meditation, not breath-based practice, was more likely to lead to atonement. This is because breath-based practice primarily centers individuals in themselves and activates cognition, making them less likely to atone for wrongs compared to the emotional empathy fostered by loving-kindness.
Individuals can integrate mindfulness by finding repetitive daily interactions or routines (e.g., driving to work, making coffee, walking to a classroom) and infusing them with intention, such as taking a few breaths, projecting loving-kindness, or setting a clear intention for the upcoming interaction.
Successful implementation often occurs in small to medium companies where CEOs or founders infuse mindfulness into the culture, such as taking mindful moments before meetings and intentionally addressing conflicts by focusing on the problem rather than the person. It's more about a cultural shift and mindful engagement intertwined with daily business, rather than just individual app usage.
Gig workers often experience freedom not just through schedule flexibility or on-demand earnings, but also because algorithms can segment work into small choices. These choices, such as deciding where to start, driving speed, or interacting with passengers, provide a real sense of autonomy and agency in their everyday work, despite structural constraints.
For all workers, especially those in remote or hybrid roles who often become 'integrators' (blending work and home), establishing clear routines to transition into and out of the workday is crucial. This mindful engagement, through mini-experiments with routines and boundaries, helps manage the integration of work and personal life.
While it's important to feel safe expressing different parts of oneself at work, expecting to bring one's 'whole self' (e.g., how one acts with friends or family) to the office can be dangerous. Work should not be expected to fulfill the same meaning and purpose as religion or personal relationships, and healthy boundaries are essential.
35 Actionable Insights
1. Build Your Calling
Instead of waiting for a ‘calling’ to appear, actively build it by finding the intersection (Venn diagram overlap) of what you love, what you’re good at, and what pays the bills. This approach helps you step into and live your purpose.
2. Work Isn’t Your Religion
Avoid placing excessive expectations on your job or employer to provide meaning, purpose, or personal counseling, as this can lead to disappointment. Recognize that work’s primary purpose is often to make money and build a career, not to replace the role of religion or family.
3. Mindfulness for Life Seasons
Practice mindfulness to recognize and prepare for different ‘seasons’ or stages of your life, understanding that work priorities and intensity will fluctuate. This allows you to plan for periods of high activity and subsequent recovery.
4. Mindfulness to Discern Stress
Cultivate mindful self-awareness to help you distinguish between unhelpful stress that drains you and helpful stress that can be motivating. This allows for better management of your stress response.
5. Meditate, Then Pray Daily
Start your day by meditating to settle your mind and ‘hear God’ (or achieve deep listening), followed by prayer to ’talk to God’ (or express intentions). This sequence allows for clearer, more reverent prayer.
6. Boost Workplace Helpfulness
Engage in either breath-based or loving-kindness meditation practices to increase your helpfulness at work, especially if you are in a customer-facing role. Both practices were found to be equally effective in this regard.
7. Atonement Through Loving-Kindness
When you make a mistake at work, engage in loving-kindness meditation to foster emotional empathy and truly feel yourself in the other person’s shoes. This practice makes you more likely to atone for your wrongs, unlike solely breath-based practices which primarily activate cognition.
8. Reduce Bias with Loving-Kindness
Practice loving-kindness meditation to reduce bias by diminishing the sense of separation between self and other. This fosters a more inclusive and less prejudiced perspective.
9. Breath to Manage Chaos
When facing external chaos or complexities, practice sitting and focusing on your breath to help deal with the situation. This technique helped Professor Cameron manage stress during a deployment in a war zone.
10. On-the-Spot Mindfulness
Integrate ‘on-the-spot’ mindfulness into repetitive daily interactions, especially those involving other people, to bring more intention to them. Examples include taking three breaths before answering the phone or projecting loving-kindness before entering a patient’s room.
11. Weave Mindfulness Daily
If you lack time for formal meditation, weave mindfulness into everyday repetitive actions like walking the dog, making coffee, or driving to work. The goal is to cultivate greater attention to the present moment without needing a formal sitting practice.
12. Create Independent Work Environment
For independent or gig workers, create a ‘holding environment’ by establishing routines and connections (e.g., morning coffee ritual, professional friends, message boards) that provide a sense of grounding and support in the absence of a traditional organizational structure.
13. Routines for Work Transitions
Whether you’re an ‘integrator’ (blending work and home) or ‘segmenter’ (strict boundaries), establish routines that clearly transition you into and out of your workday. This helps define when work starts and ends, allowing for winding down.
14. “Shut Down” Work Ritual
At the end of your workday, use a ‘shut down’ ritual, such as writing down the top priorities for the next day on a post-it note and placing it on your laptop. This signals to your brain that it’s time to disengage from work.
15. Set Interaction Intentions
Before engaging in an interaction (e.g., with a client or students), set a clear intention for what you want to achieve or how you want to show up. Rooting this intention can guide your behaviors during the interaction.
16. Infuse Routines with Intention
Infuse small mindful routines each day with a clear intention. This practice will shape and influence the activity that follows, guiding your behaviors and outcomes.
17. Loving-Kindness for Difficult Talks
Before difficult conversations with colleagues, practice a loving-kindness intervention by considering how the other person is feeling and how to approach the discussion in a way that is uplifting for everyone.
18. Foster Mindful Company Culture
For small to medium companies, integrate mindfulness as a cultural shift by taking mindful moments before meetings and intentionally addressing conflicts by focusing on the problem, not the person. This involves reflective mindful engagement intertwined with daily business operations.
19. Leadership Buy-In for Mindfulness
When introducing mindfulness in an organization, ensure there is buy-in from the highest levels and that participation is voluntary. Leaders modeling mindful behavior can serve as a powerful example for teams.
20. Build Gig Work Community
Actively build a strong community of support around your gig work to provide structure and make the job better, recognizing the precarious nature of gig careers. This community can include professional friends and online forums.
21. Underbid for Skill Development
To grow and expand in gig work without a traditional boss, consider underbidding for jobs that allow you to develop desired skills. This strategy helps build your portfolio and advertise new capabilities for future, higher-paying work.
22. Mini-Experiments for Work Boundaries
Conduct small ‘mini-experiments’ with different routines and boundaries to find what works best for transitioning into and out of work, especially when integrating work and home life. Examples include walking around the house before logging in.
23. Routines for Life Stage Transitions
Prepare specific routines that facilitate a ‘helpful ramp in and ramp down’ for different intense or slower periods of your life. This helps manage transitions between varying work and personal priorities.
24. Breath for Cognitive Empathy
Practice breath-based meditation to center yourself in the present moment, which can improve your ability to take the cognitive perspective of others and treat them in their highest good. This fosters cognitive empathy.
25. Loving-Kindness for Emotional Empathy
Practice loving-kindness meditation to develop emotional empathy, allowing you to feel what it’s like to be in another person’s shoes. This makes the border between self and other more porous, leading to greater understanding.
26. Soften Inner Weather with Love
If you tend to be intellectual or ‘cold,’ incorporate loving-kindness meditation to make your ‘inner weather’ balmier, leading to warmer feelings about your own imperfections and a less active ‘selfing’ area of the brain.
27. Mindfulness for Bias Space
Employ mindfulness to create a bit of space around your inherent biases and cognitive shortcuts. This allows for flexibility in interpretation and helps you get to know the real person underneath initial judgments.
28. Loving-Kindness for Emotional Labor
If your job involves high emotional labor (e.g., flight attendant, Disneyland worker) where your internal state doesn’t match your external presentation, consider practicing loving-kindness meditation. Traditional mindfulness might be counterproductive in such roles due to the disconnect it highlights.
29. Combine Formal & Micro-Mindfulness
Establish a formal meditation practice (e.g., 10 minutes daily) to build a ‘muscle’ for mindfulness, then supplement it with micro-practices throughout the day. This combination can strengthen the overall positive effects of mindfulness.
30. Reframe Workplace Mindfulness
When discussing mindfulness in a workplace context, consider reframing it as an emotional regulation or metacognition strategy rather than traditional meditation. This approach acknowledges its stripped-down, yet effective, nature in a professional setting.
31. Connect for Ancestral Guidance
Engage in practices that allow you to connect with your ancestors to ask for support, guidance, or knowledge for the day. This practice is rooted in African indigenous traditions and provides comfort and rootedness.
32. Set Teaching Intentions
Before teaching, use repetitive actions (like walking to class) to set intentions, such as how to welcome every student and ensure all voices are heard. This helps you be fully present and inclusive in the classroom.
33. Practice “Don’t Side With Yourself”
When stuck in views of being right or being a good person, practice the mantra ‘don’t side with yourself’ to encourage taking others’ perspectives. This can release internal suffering and reduce suffering created for others.
34. Healthy Boundaries for Work Self
When considering bringing your ‘whole self’ to work, practice healthy boundary setting. While it’s important to show up authentically, recognize that a professional environment is not therapy, and not every aspect of your personal life needs to be expressed at all times.
35. Incubate for Creative Insight
To solve hard problems, first read and think about the problem, then engage in a different activity like running or looking at art. This allows your cognitive processes to work in the background, leading to bursts of creative insight.
5 Key Quotes
I feel like meditation is how you hear God and prayer is how you talk to God.
Lindsey Cameron
I unequivocally think mindfulness is good. It has helped my life and so many other people. And so I felt that I wouldn't be a good scholar of mindfulness practices because I wasn't willing to sort of interrogate it critically.
Lindsey Cameron
I mean, I so strongly agree with the vast majority of words you just uttered there. I do think that McMindfulness folks are correct about a lot of things. And I also think that McMindfulness or whatever watered down form of practice that's making its way to individuals in a modern context, often in a professional context, seems to be helpful. So, okay, both things are true at the same time. It's a paradox.
Dan Harris
I think often it's the thought these practices came down at a given time for a given group of people that worked well for them at that moment of history.
Lindsey Cameron
Your job and your manager cannot become your parents.
Lindsey Cameron
4 Protocols
On-the-Spot Mindfulness Integration
Lindsey Cameron- Identify a repetitive interaction in your workday, especially when interacting with others (e.g., answering the phone, entering a patient's room, walking to a classroom).
- Right before or during this interaction, take a moment to bring in a practice, such as taking three breaths, projecting loving-kindness, or setting an intention for the interaction.
- Use this moment to ground yourself, put yourself in the other person's shoes, or guide your behaviors with a clear intention.
Creating a Holding Environment for Gig Workers
Lindsey Cameron- Establish consistent routines (e.g., a morning cup of coffee) to provide a sense of grounding.
- Cultivate connections to people and places that offer support and community (e.g., professional friends, message boards).
- Build a strong community of support to counteract the precariousness of gig work.
Skill Development for Gig Workers
Lindsey Cameron- Identify skills you wish to develop that are adjacent to your current work.
- Underbid for jobs that allow you to practice and build these desired skills, even if it means earning less initially.
- Use these projects to build up your portfolio and advertise yourself with the new skillset.
Creating Boundaries for Integrators (Remote/Hybrid Work)
Lindsey Cameron- Recognize that you are an 'integrator' who blends work and home life.
- Conduct mini-experiments to create routines that clearly transition you into your workday (e.g., walking around the house, making coffee before logging in).
- Establish routines that signal the end of your workday and allow you to wind down (e.g., family dinner, leaving a note for the next day's tasks).
- Maintain these boundaries and routines even while integrating work into different parts of your life.