Earlier discussion:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17329396
Additionally, was there a need to submit the same thing twice? Article here and the paper here:
Employees who practice mindfulness meditation are less motivated
11–20 of 29 posts
Re: Employees who practice mindfulness meditation are less motivated
#12[deleted]
Re: Employees who practice mindfulness meditation are less motivated
#13" A central technique of mindfulness meditation, after all, is to accept things as they are. " That is a debatable point. From a Buddhist perspective, the goal is not so much to _accept_ things as they are, but to _perceive_ things as they are, which means letting go of your accretions of illusions attached to things. The fundamental mechanism of capitalism is to foster a sense of eternal dissatisfaction with your ma…
I think it may be a bit of column a and a bit of column b.
Be "mindful" of how things are, accept that they are the way they are, realize that whatever is "now" is just temporary so it doesn't make sense to excessively worry over it.
Re: Employees who practice mindfulness meditation are less motivated
#14I think many forms of stress, if lowered, will cause productivity to go down by some metric. The issue is the metric is so hard to get right. When people get stressed they do busy work that may look productive but are not especially productive in reality.
Re: Employees who practice mindfulness meditation are less motivated
#15" A central technique of mindfulness meditation, after all, is to accept things as they are. " That is a debatable point. From a Buddhist perspective, the goal is not so much to _accept_ things as they are, but to _perceive_ things as they are, which means letting go of your accretions of illusions attached to things. The fundamental mechanism of capitalism is to foster a sense of eternal dissatisfaction with your ma…
I agree with the comment about "a bit of column a, a bit of column b"
By default we are immersed purely in illusion. I'm sure you have your own mental image of a person who is entirely immersed in the illusions presented by media etc etc. Often these illusions are driven by needs/wants which are interpreted as all being needs. Full Buddhist perspective is that all but the most basic for survival are wants, not needs, but that is at odds with capitalism and the survival of the species. If we don't have some way of technological advancement, we may live happy simple lives, but eventually something cosmic will happen that the species can't handle and thats it. With technology that can change, which is where capitalism comes in. Capitalism reminds that in the bigger picture, there is a need for anything the helps survival.
Given that, at least personally what I take away is, capitalism motivates us to do things we don't "need" to do, but may be very important one day. To the extreme, it implies that everything is needed and anything short of perfect may as well be death. The other side of the coin is nice but vulnerable. Together - use mindfulness to stay rational and aware - and pay attention to capitalism to understand and situate yourself into the future. Together they are quite powerful - I feel I live a pretty happy life enjoying the benefits of both.
TL;DR stress motivates, but sucks. mindfulness is good but doesn't build the future. together in the right balance they're amazingly powerful
Re: Employees who practice mindfulness meditation are less motivated
#16Title is wrong. After reading the article, what the journalist meant is not "motivated" but "productive".
(You can still be motivated about many things except your work)
Re: Employees who practice mindfulness meditation are less motivated
#17I do agree with the conclusion of the article to some point. I think it (mindfulness as the result of the meditation) must really depend on each person and each character. Anecdotally, in my case, mindfulness as a result of meditation and similar mind-calming practices (like jogging, stretching) helped me to advance my career from a dev to a team lead and eventually helped me to get a courage to pursue my dreams of b…
And fwiw, Mindfulness meditation exacerbated my anhedonic depression to the point where I was no longer able to take care of myself.
Before the well-meaning but condescending comments arrive: no, I was not 'doing it wrong. If my experience threatens anyone's romantic view of meditation, kindly keep it to yourself.
Re: Employees who practice mindfulness meditation are less motivated
#18is burnout still recognized as a problem? or better yet, post-industrial revolution, humans are described in machine terms like 'productivity' and 'effectiveness' rather than classical human virtues like patience, prudence or wisdom. If humans allow themselves to be measured by some metric only, work is then a literal rat-race.
Re: Employees who practice mindfulness meditation are less motivated
#19Title is wrong. After reading the article, what the journalist meant is not "motivated" but "productive". (You can still be motivated about many things except your work)
Agreed. The difference is ultimately priorities. That is, what gets energy and attention.
The fact is, to __not__ give work all your energy and attention takes motivation. It's different. But it's still motivation.
Re: Employees who practice mindfulness meditation are less motivated
#20Stress is a hell of a motivator.
Cocaine is a hell of a drug, according to Rick James.