Twenty Minutes Twice Per Day For Myself

I AM a Husband, Father, Friend, Social Entrepreneur, and many other things to many people. Somehow, I suspect the same holds true for you.

In our quest to be and do better in our personal and professional lives, each of us is seeking an edge — something to provide us with a leg-up on our, sometimes friendly, competition. I believe that edge or leg-up to be none other than incorporating the simple, natural, and effortless mental technique of Transcendental Meditation™ (TM) into our daily routine.

I recently came across a Harvard Business Review article on how to gain more from our day. Admittedly, I, too, enjoyed the author’s suggestions. However, I also felt something was missing — that something is an understanding that taking time for one’s inner life and self is equally if not more important than solely focusing on what we may do for others and how to do it better.

In his classic and inspiring work One Minute for Yourself, Dr. Spencer Johnson writes of the importance to “take better care” of ourselves and to show those around us how to do likewise. In so doing, we foster personal and professional environments where, as each of us is better internally, our outer world comes to reflect the same. It is with this in mind that I propose, in addition to the points covered in the HBR article, that those actively searching for a way to balance life and work incorporate the well-researched and peer-reviewed Transcendental Meditation™ technique into their daily routine.

Let’s face it. When we are at our best mentally and physically we make beneficial decisions in and for both the short and long-term. Whereas when we are cloudy in thought and fatigued in physiology, our thinking and actions are equally impacted.

While we often think of our day in terms of time-management, I propose we consider shifting our perspective to that of personal energy-management.

As one who recently celebrated a seven-year anniversary of practicing the Transcendental Meditation™ technique and as a Certified Teacher of the same for close to three years, taking twenty minutes in the morning and afternoon to practice TM significantly increases focus, clarity of thought, and daily productivity. In short, not only are the benefits deeply personal, they surface in my professional life as well to great benefit of those served.

With this simple, natural, and effortless mental technique, you have nothing to lose yet everything to gain.

In reflecting on the Harvard Business Review article, it is sound advice yet missing one valuable component — making me better by turning my attention to my inner-self and well-being. In answer to that missing element, I offer the suggestion of Transcendental Meditation™. To learn more, visit www.tm.org.

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Baruti KMT-Sisouvong is a PhD Candidate in Vedic Science with Maharishi University of Management and serves as Director of the Transcendental Meditation Program in Cambridge, MA. He and his wife, Mina, have an eighteen-month old daughter. You may follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.