How to Avoid Mindfulness Pitfalls

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Mindfulness is increasingly being seen as a way to improve business and leadership practices. Businesses have been using it as part of a broader effort to bring humanistic thinking to management by holding space for the social and emotional needs of employees.

Recent research, for example, lauds mindful organizational communication as a way for businesses to flourish. Drawing on principles from Buddhist philosophy, like impermanence and the decentred self, it prioritizes the protection of dignity and collective well-being in the workplace.

As we’ve discussed in this space, “mindfulness” is an umbrella term with multiple meanings. It may refer to a cognitive process, a personality trait, or a spiritual exercise. In all contexts, central to mindfulness is an emphasis on focused attention, coupled with an awareness of that attention.

But mindfulness is not a one-size-fits-all solution to life’s challenges. Misapplied, it can inhibit our success and satisfaction. Here’s how to avoid those traps.

Hindering Rather Than Helping

Using mindfulness to cope with stress works for some, but it can be unhelpful in spaces demanding initiative and cooperation. In fact, research finds the practice can create obstacles to success in some scenarios.

Studies show workplace mindfulness programs can lead to negative feelings, anxiety, and lower job satisfaction. Further, mindfulness can compromise aspects of cognitive functioning and undermine implicit learning. Most notably, it can negatively impact motivation.

In one study, for example, a meditation coach taught a group mindfulness techniques while another group let their minds wander. When given a task, the mindfulness group were less motivated to complete it. This suggests that focusing on being present without judgment lowers the motivation to achieve certain goals.

So, the first takeaway is to be mindful of the trade-off between nonjudgement and motivation. When you are in a situation that demands action, focus your attention on sustaining an internal motivation to get the task done, to meet your goals, as opposed to celebrating the sense of calm that follows from a settled mind.

The Perils of Impermanence and Decentring

Core teachings of mindfulness, like impermanence and decentring, privilege patience and acceptance of what is. These principles support attending to experiences within a wider context of awareness, letting events, thoughts, and emotions unfold with no judgment. But nonjudgment can also encourage inaction.

In particular, when decisions have a moral component, most people tend not to choose. In fact, the pull to passivity may be strongest when facing moral dilemmas because these conflicts present some of the most difficult decisions we will ever face. For instance, a state of non-judgment arising from impermanence could lead exploited employees to tolerate, and thus perpetuate, toxic workplace culture.

Similarly, embracing mindfulness could result in self-doubt as employees question whether they are the right person for a task. Non-judgmental awareness often serves to constrain an employee’s ability to effect change in a corporate setting rather than enhance it.

Making a Difference

While it may be counterintuitive, a mindful approach can sometimes work against ethical outcomes. The real work is being mindful of this possibility. When faced with an ethical dilemma, the drive to action must overcome any sense of smallness of the self, or faith that others in our connected and interdependent world will do the work for us.

Navigating the chaos of today’s challenges often requires quick thinking and on-the-fly contingency planning. Impermanence, decentring, and contingency all emphasize the necessity of a mindset that is open to growth, learning, and change—but the latter motivates positively.

There are, unfortunately, solid reasons to believe that contemplating impermanence is just as likely to lead a person to conclude “Why bother?” as it is to ethical enactment; and embracing a decentered self will probably lead a decisionmaker to ask, “Why me?” rather than assert, “I’m motivated!”

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While these mindfulness principles are powerful in spiritual spaces, they can cause a mindfulmess in political and economic spaces. When working on ourselves, the most important principle to remember is that we are best positioned to make the adjustments that will create a future that is better than our present.