Barry

The Key to Effecting Change in the Workplace is Practicing Mindfulness

05/18/2018 by Barry Leave a Comment

If you’re unhappy with the culture of your workplace or the general level of professional behavior in your office, there is no better way to initiate the change than to start with yourself and consistently be the best version of yourself each and every day.

In my opinion, the only way to effect change is to first become the change.

When you bring your inner monk to work, you show up as the same person you are when you’re on the meditation cushion. I realize that just by possessing a positive outlook and modeling positive behavior isn’t often enough to bring about changes in others, but as a Buddhist practitioner, it’s the place you must start. [Read more…]

Anti-Awareness and The Miracle of Mindfulness, Revisited

05/16/2018 by Barry 1 Comment

I’ve been re-reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Miracle of Mindfulness on my Kindle. I’m having a beautiful experience revisiting this volume that I read so many years ago.

You’ve probably had this same experience whereby you begin reading a book you read years ago and suddenly remember how lovely it was the first time, right?

I’ve recently experienced a heavier weighted reliance on mindfulness: In part because of work pressure, in part due to personal issues, and partly because I want to cultivate more awareness on a moment-by-moment basis.

It’s too easy to slip into the lazy habit of being somewhere else. I want to be here now…and now…and now. It is a positive way for me to be in the world and it reminds me, especially in times of challenge, to remember the faithfulness of my breath and how it supports me both physiologically as well as spiritually. [Read more…]

A Real Life Example of Compassionate-Kindness in Action

02/12/2018 by Barry Leave a Comment

This morning I awoke and made coffee. That’s not unusual. In fact, you might call it a ritual. Hmmm. Definitely a habit that I have no intention of breaking.

Anyway, if I’m alone, I usually use the time between pour-over pours to catch up on social media posts or read the latest New York Times and Los Angeles Times headlines. If Karen is in town, I wait until the coffee is finished and after I bring it back to the bedroom on a tray, we chat and sip our coffee while checking into the online world.

I’m often greeted by Facebook posts from my youngest son Jay, who lives here in Irvine with me. Since he’s a musician/singer/lyricist, his posts are usually about hardcore bands or upcoming shows he wants to attend.

Every now and then I’ll read a post that really gets my attention. The post below is the one I was greeted with this morning. [Read more…]

If You’re Overscheduled, Bad Task Karma Could Be Why

02/01/2018 by Barry 1 Comment

Are you chronically overscheduled? Do tasks and appointments back up due to long meetings, extended conference calls, or unexpected projects? If so, you’re likely the victim of bad task karma.

Bad task karma (BTK) is when one task affects the next and the next and so on. For instance, a meeting runs long and impacts the rest of your appointments and tasks. Before you know it you’re rushing to reschedule, and you’re overscheduled yet again!

BTK will kill your productivity, but it’s not your fault

That’s because most analog planning systems tell you to schedule tasks according to their urgency. Unfortunately, that leads to unrealistic expectations and lots of bad task karma. [Read more…]

Work as a Practice for Awakening

01/19/2018 by Barry Leave a Comment

I’m currently reading Zen of Business Administration: How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work and Your Life by entrepreneur, Zen monk, and former Zen Center Director, Marc Lesser.

The premise of the book is that Zen practice can lead to the dissolution of the often self-placed boundaries between work and play.

At the heart of Zen is the absence of a separate sense of self. I have to admit that this is a concept that I’ve yet to fully understand.

I’m only about one-fifth of the way into this delightful read, however, I hope that by the time I get to the end I’ll have a clearer understanding of it. [Read more…]

How You Can Rapidly Switch Between Sections in Your Zen-Journal Even Without a Ribbon Marker

01/10/2018 by Barry Leave a Comment

There are times when you want to find the Quarterly Look-Ahead (QLA) or your Discipline Task Lists (DTL) in a hurry. With a lot of hardbound notebooks, that’s easy because they come equipped with one (Moleskine) or two (LEUCHTTURM1917) bookmarks.

But what if your notebook doesn’t come with a ribbon marker? What if you’re using a spiral-bound notebook or another markerless hard or paperbacked notebook?

I have a suggestion… [Read more…]

My 100% Digital Zen-Journal Experiment

01/06/2018 by Barry 1 Comment

A natural evolution

When I devised the Zen-Journal system, I intentionally designed it to take advantage of the strengths and time-saving capabilities of a digital device. Personally, I’m a Mac so I use an iPhone X, an iPad Pro, and a MacBook Pro. These devices are by far superior to my brain and analog notebooks when tracking my flights, schedules, appointments, and contacts.

But starting about six months ago, I began an experiment whereby I only used my iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil to create and sustain my Zen-Journal in an all-digital format. That may seem like a betrayal of the entire analog planner premise that Zen-Journal grew out of. I get that. However, it seemed inevitable given the increasingly digital aspects of our society.

It began when I purchased and downloaded the GoodNotes app from the Apple App Store. I looked at a few apps before deciding on this one. It allows me to create individual and unlimited notebooks (if that’s your thing), seamlessly view my Zen-Journal on my iPhone via iCloud, and allows bookmarks, pageviews (as in the example above) for easy scrolling and locating pages visually, as well as multiple page layouts and paper types.

It was a natural evolution of the system I created and still use. So what are the results of this experiment? [Read more…]

Which Notebook Should You Use for First Zen-Journal?

08/21/2017 by Barry 1 Comment

It’s a very personal choice

Like the pen or pencil of your choosing, the notebook you settle on is a highly personal choice. There are so many options both online and offline; there are hardcovers and softcovers, large, medium, and pocket sizes.

There are plain, ruled, box grid, and dot grid, and indentation page formats. Who’d have thought there was so much to consider in choosing a notebook?

I’ve used several popular notebooks and I’ll share my experiences with you for each below and maybe it will help you choose what’s best for your first -or next-Zen-Journal.

[Read more…]

How To Use Mindfulness to Survive and Thrive in Today’s Open Seating Work Environments

07/30/2017 by Barry Leave a Comment

Open seating workspaces aren’t what they’re cracked up to be

Open seating offices are all the rage in both Silicon Valley companies and across the globe, but for many, they’re a problem.

While proponents of the concept boast about improved productivity and ease of interaction between team members, there is a growing body of evidence that sheds light on some of the more harmful aspects of the model.

In this article on Forbes, David Burkus -author of the titles, The Myths of Creativity and Under New Management– takes a look at the various studies that identified some startling negative effects on the inhabitants of open seating offices.

The findings include a 2005 study from researchers at Australia’s University of Sydney that found: [Read more…]

My Most Meaningful Work – A 40+ Year Path of Gradual Awakening

07/10/2017 by Barry 3 Comments

And we dance, To a whispered voice;
Overheard by the soul, Undertook by the heart;
And you may know it, If you may know it

Neil Diamond, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Roles help us find ourselves

I’ve played many roles in my life: physician, professor, a college dean, a college president, a window washer, a retail store manager, consultant, and a guy who cleaned eyeglasses and hawked some anti-fog stuff for eyeglasses…yes, many roles and obviously not in that order.

You probably have played several, too. There is nothing wrong with playing these roles. But like we do in perfecting our golf swing or crafting the perfect cup of coffee, hopefully…eventually…we find a sweet spot. We find that one type of role within which we could stay in character for the rest of our lives.

Roles help reveal what comes easily to us. On a deeper level, we call these traits, talents, and strengths. Over time we experiment with different roles to determine our interests. I see roles as hugely important because the results of these experiences ultimately inform us about our deepest work.

The rest of this post is somewhat autobiographical. It discusses various phases in my life and the roles I played. It talks about the fractured process of discovering my strengths, talents, and ultimately, my deepest work and concludes with how you can avoid a similarly painful 40-year search for your deepest work. [Read more…]