Mindfulness meditation shows the possibility of lowering work motivation

by Thư Anh

The mindfulness of the meaning of "to see consciously at this moment's experience intentionally, not to evaluate but to watch in a state without crowds" is sometimes used by Google for training, I got it. Mindfulness can be trained through meditation, so the company's building of Apple, Google, Nike has a meditation room installed. However, research results show that mindfulness reduces motivation for work.

Mindfulness Meditation Impairs Task Motivation but Not Performance - ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074959781630646X

Opinion | Hey Boss, You Do not Want Your Employees to Meditate - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/opinion/sunday/meditation-productivity-work-mindfulness.html

What is the core of mindfulness meditation is to "take things as it is". On the other hand, the base of the idea of ​​motivation is "to get a better future", and it includes not a few elements of dissatisfaction to the present. The idea of ​​accepting this "as it is" and "doing a dissatisfaction" can not be compatible with each other? Researchers thought.

To investigate this hypothesis, a team of behavioral scientists carried out five studies targeting hundreds of subjects and examined whether there is a relationship between mindfulness and motivation. As a result, strong evidence that "meditation reduces motivation" was found.

Some of the subjects in this study were practicing to concentrate on breathing under the direction of a professional meditation coach and to scan my body's senses in my mind. This is a very common way of meditation. However, because the method of meditation was not decided, some of the subjects had some ideas during meditation, reading news, writing the latest actions.

by Jared Rice

Then, imposing tasks such as 'organizing business memos' or 'computer input' like doing work to the subjects after meditation everyday, at the same time, "how long is the time and labor required for assignment?" Do you like it? "

Then, the person who meditated had a low level of motivation on average, and the subjects tended to answer "I do not like" or "I do not want to give time or effort" to perform assigned tasks . Meditation reduces thinking for the future, increasing sensations such as calm and calm. Such a state is considered to reduce the feeling of "going to the project of work".

We also examined the performance in the real life of the subjects. On average, it seems that even though meditation gave benefits to the subjects, the quality of work was not compromised.

Considering that studies conducted in the past indicated that meditation increases mental concentration, the performance of meditation practitioners in this study had to rise, but there is a low motivation It seemed that it seemed to offset the profit.

Researchers believe that mindfulness is like a "nap of the spirit", it is freed from annoyance and can get peace and refreshing, "Who woke up from a nap and organized the files I wonder if there will be a mistake? "

by energepic.com

Motivation for success is about the same as that person's personality and intelligence and has the advantage of being able to control by yourself. Employee motivation is also important for the company, and in the Gallup survey conducted in 2013, companies that have many employees who are dedicated to work are superior to other companies in terms of growth and productivity Is shown.

Since many companies are doing the motivation raising by incentive money, it was also examined whether the monetary incentive can offset the loss of motivation due to mindfulness, but it was not able to offset it. Material motivation seems not to represent the inner motivation.

From the results of this research, researchers said, "Mindfulness may be helpful in dealing with work difficulties, but it may depend on the environment." Although this research does not deny that mindfulness brings acceptance and calmness, it says, "Once acceptance peaks, there is a possibility that motivation to enthusiastically engage in work can not be obtained" .