Meditation is a powerful tool that can help you focus, quiet your mind, and get clarity. That’s what they tell me anyway.
You see, I’ve never tried it and never wanted to. It always felt slow-paced for me; I prefer to match the beat of my day.
But then I had a chat with Brian DeCastro that changed my mind. Up until that moment, I’d been having trouble maximizing my day. I was easily distracted and found it difficult to transition from one task to another.
Brian suggested meditation as a way to help boost my productivity. And since he swore it would help me get more work done, I was on board!
The plan was simple: 10 days of consecutive meditation. I am currently on day 25 and I don’t plan to stop.
If you don’t meditate, I’m sure my experience will change your mind. My experience boils down to four major benefits and I’d like to share them with you.
1. It’s quieter in my brain
I found that there’s less noise bouncing around between my ears, especially immediately after a session, and I’m not in a hurry to get to the next task of the day. I still move things along, but there’s a lot more mindfulness involved.
While meditating, I also tend to pay attention to my surroundings and notice sounds and smells I didn’t observe before. If you meditate often, this probably isn’t news for you. But for me, it was a very big deal. It meant I could actually be more present in the now.
I also became more comfortable in silence where before, I’d put on music, scroll through social media, or do anything else just to keep my brain noisy.
2. More perspective on what really matters
During meditation, it’s almost like everything slowed down. It was annoying at first because you can set a timer for 15 minutes and it seems to go on for an hour. The plus side of that is, your mind really has time to explore.
Thoughts come and go and as I pull my mind back to concentrating, everything becomes clearer. Suddenly, I’m able to differentiate between important tasks and “busy work” which is great because, 80% of the time, busy work is how I get burned out.
Beyond work, I’m also suddenly grateful for my relationships and I value the good things in my life. It’s like when you come out of that prolonged “mind prison,” you can see the big picture better.
3. Increased productivity
Boosting my productivity was the whole reason I took on the 10-day meditation challenge, and boy did I get it. One of my biggest challenges was that it took me up to 30 minutes to get between one task and the next, especially if the previous task was a video chat.
I’d scroll through Reddit, binge YouTube shorts, and do everything except what I needed to do. I found that it was difficult to slow down and actually focus. Meditation helped me change that.
A short 10-minute session would have me calm, collected, and prepared to hop on to the next task. I also had a lot of perspective and could easily decide which tasks were worth my time.
4. A huge sense of achievement
At the end of the 10-days, I had that feeling you get after you’ve completed a challenge. I’m sure you’ve felt it too; you get it whether you’ve just finished writing your first book or running your first 5K run.
Brian has a short congratulatory video at the end of the 10 days that really heightened my sense of achievement. I walked away feeling like a better, more conscious version of myself.
For a guy who wasn’t used to meditating, all of this was a big deal for me. It could be a big deal for you too. As you can see, this short challenge can do a lot for you. Plus, there are daily check-ins so Brian pretty much holds your hand through the whole thing.
He also has other challenges that can really help you improve the way you live life. If you’re interested in optimizing any aspect of your life, reach out to Brian DeCastro. You could be 10-days away from a turning point.
