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Studies Find Evidence That Meditation Is Demotivating (nytimes.com)
An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from a report written by behavioral scientists Kathleen D. Vohs and Andrew C. Hafenbrack: The practical payoff of mindfulness [meditation] is backed by dozens of studies linking it to job satisfaction, rational thinking and emotional resilience. But on the face of it, mindfulness might seem counterproductive in a workplace setting. To test this hunch, we recently conducted five studies, involving hundreds of people, to see whether there was a tension between mindfulness and motivation. As we report in a forthcoming article in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, we found strong evidence that meditation is demotivating.
Some of the participants in our studies were trained in a few of the most common mindfulness meditation techniques. They were instructed by a professional meditation coach to focus on their breathing or mentally scan their bodies for physical sensations, being gently reminded throughout that there was no right or wrong way to do the exercise. Other participants were led through a different exercise. Some were encouraged to let their thoughts wander; some were instructed to read the news or write about recent activities they had done. Then we gave everyone a task to do. Among those who had meditated, motivation levels were lower on average. Those people didn't feel as much like working on the assignments, nor did they want to spend as much time or effort to complete them. Meditation was correlated with reduced thoughts about the future and greater feelings of calm and serenity -- states seemingly not conducive to wanting to tackle a work project. The studies also found that meditation "neither benefited nor detracted from a participant's quality of work." Furthermore, Vohs and Hafenbrack found that a financial bonus for outstanding performance did not overcome the demotivating effect of mindfulness. "While the promise of material rewards will always be a useful tool for motivating employees, it is no substitute for internal motivation," the report reads.
Some of the participants in our studies were trained in a few of the most common mindfulness meditation techniques. They were instructed by a professional meditation coach to focus on their breathing or mentally scan their bodies for physical sensations, being gently reminded throughout that there was no right or wrong way to do the exercise. Other participants were led through a different exercise. Some were encouraged to let their thoughts wander; some were instructed to read the news or write about recent activities they had done. Then we gave everyone a task to do. Among those who had meditated, motivation levels were lower on average. Those people didn't feel as much like working on the assignments, nor did they want to spend as much time or effort to complete them. Meditation was correlated with reduced thoughts about the future and greater feelings of calm and serenity -- states seemingly not conducive to wanting to tackle a work project. The studies also found that meditation "neither benefited nor detracted from a participant's quality of work." Furthermore, Vohs and Hafenbrack found that a financial bonus for outstanding performance did not overcome the demotivating effect of mindfulness. "While the promise of material rewards will always be a useful tool for motivating employees, it is no substitute for internal motivation," the report reads.
As trite as it sounds, I have found that taking a minute to interrupt a stressful work situation with some “mindfulness” activity seems to help me with work - when I remember to take that minute, anyway.
Of course the stressors I’m dealing with are almost never directly related to my actual job - but we have a couple of very dysfunctional staffers currently at the top of our org right now, and they seemingly revel in creating messes.
But, in any case, taking that minute to reset mentally does help me separate myself from the stressful stuff which was distracting me and get my focus back to the work at hand.
#DeleteChrome
I apologize for my arrogant and asinine post. You are correct.
gweihir
Fuck man, have some confidence. You're exactly right -- most jobs are completely meaningless.
Bloat, redundancy, old-boys clubs -- all of this is pervasive in the work-force in general.
Let's also remind ourselves what we mean by "work-force" -- the thing we built in order to make the Industrial Revolution happen. Such a means of approaching life had never been done before, is long past its use-by date, and today it's biggest export is mentally ill people.
Our entire education system is built around the life-sapping notion that subjects that serve "industry" must be exulted above the arts. This is nonsense. Life is objectively meaningless, so all subjects are just as "important" as others. In other words, they have exactly the meaning we give them, and if you, gweihir, think that something is meaningless, you're damn well right.
Meditation is not something I do, but I can certainly see how it can lead people to realise that their jobs are shit, because they really are.