Steps to Stop Worrying and Working Effectively

Worry starts with a single thought. That thought, if not addressed or killed promptly, feeds on itself to become a whirlwind of thoughts or stress. Stress lives on the energy of the mind and the body. Since we got limited energy, stress is definitely not a good use of it. Stress is a parasite on the mind and body.

How do we then identify thoughts that create stress? How do we focus our mind on the action that drives result? How do we stop worrying and work effectively? Let’s learn about the steps to win over worry.

Plan your day but always be ready for change.

Once you put together a daily plan or list of tasks you set out to finish, your mind will work with clarity and conviction. Competing priorities, or new demands on your time, can change your plan but the new plan will be based on new facts. Don’t let emotions or thoughts derail your plan.

Execution is the key to progress.

Just like a farmer cannot expect a crop by thinking about it, no work is accomplished by merely thinking or worrying. Identify the inputs needed to execute a project, estimate the amount of time and effort required, assess any help that may be needed from others, and finally create a tracker to monitor the progress.

Start small.

Break-down complicated tasks into small, manageable tasks and do Simran before each block of time. For example, if a particular report might take an hour, divide your time into 20-minute blocks. Try doing 2-3 minutes of Simran before each 20-minute segment for mental clarity.

Focus on controlling your mind, not the outcomes.

Months of hard work can amount to nothing when a flood destroys a crop. A wise farmer will learn from this adversity and come out stronger next time. Similarly, if we apply our mind and efforts with the best intentions we have no reason to worry about the results. We should apply logic to understand the relationship between inputs and outputs to frame a strategy and then focus on execution. Outcomes, successful or not, will follow. Treat failures as teaching moments and celebrate the success.

Trust Waheguru with the outcome.

As gursikhs we need to spend our swaas (breath) wisely. Worry robs us of our breath that we can instead save by remembering Waheguru. We should entrust our worries or distressing situations to Waheguru and focus on doing simran. Simran gives strength to our mind. This strength helps to discern between right or wrong, useful or useless. Simran helps instinctively identify thoughts that are vague fears and of no utility.

ਨਾਨਕ ਚਿੰਤਾ ਮਤਿ ਕਰਹੁ ਚਿੰਤਾ ਤਿਸ ਹੀ ਹੇਇ ॥
O Nanak, do not worry; the Lord will take care of you.
ਜਲ ਮਹਿ ਜੰਤ ਉਪਾਇਅਨੁ ਤਿਨਾ ਭਿ ਰੋਜੀ ਦੇਇ ॥
He created the creatures in water, and He gives them their nourishment.

The Benefits of Kirtan

Kirtan is a form of music – the singing of Gurbani.

We know that performing music and even listening to music has tremendous benefits on a person’s brain activity. There are also considerable physical, emotional and social benefits. Science has been telling us all of this for a very long time. Some of these benefits include:

• Improving mental alertness – so much so that the Alzheimer’s Society has a singing service to help those with dementia.
• Lowering stress – this happens as the amount of cortisol decreases in a person’s bloodstream, as a result of singing
• Boosting your confidence – singing in front of others (even a small audience) helps overcome stage fright

(Source: 11 Surprising Health Benefits of Singing)

But why is Kirtan so important? Let’s take a slightly spiritual perspective.

1) Helps you learn Gurbani.

Kirtan is the singing of Gurbani. Through singing, a person can often learn the words much more easily to Gurbani, Shabads, and Nitnem. Have you ever walked out of a Gurdwara and a particular shabad that you were just listening to is still playing in your mind? While you might be remembering the tune, you’re likely to also remember the words – the Gurbani.

2) Encourages you to do Simran

On every page of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, instructions are given to chant, jap, recite or remember. These are all different words for Simran – the practical application of Gurbani. So, when you hear Guru Sahib telling you to chant, jap, recite or remember, do just that. Learn more about how to incorporate Simran into your work schedule.

3) Kirtan is a mechanism for knowledge transfer

The Gurus were intelligent beyond their times. They realized that the message of Gurbani would need to be delivered through Kirtan across the world. This was likely because the written word of Gurbani was not easily accessible at the time, and because most people would not have been able to read it if it were available – because of low literacy.

Kirtan is a platform to receive the knowledge contained within Gurbani. That knowledge is there to guide every Sikh, through Gurbani (Scripture), Simran (Remembrance of God) and Jivan Jaach (Turthful living).

4) Kirtan teaches you how to listen

Active listening is something that requires energy and focus. It’s a skill that’s needed in every aspect of life; from family and work, to volunteerism and leadership. Kirtan teaches us how to listen actively. The message of Gurbani, delivered through Kirtan, can only be understood if a person is attentive. This means actively listening to what is being sung, but also taking it one step further – practical application. Listening = love. When we listen to someone or something, it shows either love or a certain level of respect.

Let’s take another point of view. Think of the many conflicts that happen either at home or in the workplace. How many of these situations were a result of someone not listening or properly understanding a particular point? We all want to be listened to and understood. When we learn to listen to each other, we’ll learn to listen to our Guru.

The next time you’re at the Gurdwara or hear Kirtan being sung, take the time to actively listen to the words and try to understand the greater meaning. From there, ask yourself, how can I apply this to my life? Even if you’re only able to do part of that, then you’ve realized the greatest gift that Kirtan has for us – the connection to Gurbani!

In the previous article, we learned about helpful decluttering techniques that build a stress-free, organized and controlled mind. We now know that the benefits of a decluttered mind greatly outweigh the sacrifices of this journey. A decluttered mind is like a shiny piece of metal that is constantly interacting with its surroundings. In the absence of regular care, these interactions are bound to have a negative effect resulting in a dull and rusted metal.

Our mind also needs a strategy to avoid a relapse into clutter. A strategy focused on executing decluttering techniques is critical for long term success. However, it takes a life-long commitment to maintain self-discipline, and deal with cravings and triggers in different situations throughout your life.

Let’s look at some habits that you can form to build self-discipline and a pathway to success.

Create a daily schedule. You control your time and it starts with saying no to things that distract you from your goals. Review your goals each morning before you start your day, or set and review your goals the night before. Time management and goal setting go hand in hand.

Keep track or a lekha of your thoughts. The mysimran.info app is a great tool for this. There’s simply no better way to learn about your thoughts than to write them down and keep track. This way you can understand what contaminates your mind and the steps you can take to avoid those activities.

Do Simran to constantly remember God with every breath. Simran gives strength to your mind. This strength helps to discern between right or wrong, useful or useless. When Simran becomes a habit then your lifestyle will reflect a personality that is compassionate, caring, and responsible towards itself and others in the community. Forming other habits also becomes much easier once you have Simran as the foundation.

Exercising regularly is a habit that tests your physical and mental strength. To instill the habit of exercise in your life, start small. Begin by getting up from your office seat every 20 minutes to take a walk. Add a perpetual reminder on your calendar to remind you. Do that for one week until it becomes a full-blown habit. As you progress, add 30 minutes or more for exercise every day in your daily schedule.

Keep Sangat of people who share common goals with you. Sangat can bring you back if you stray too far from your goals. Sangat will reveal techniques that can shorten your learning curve.

Finally, Rinse & repeat. Persistence and patience will keep you moving. Habit forming is hard work. Habits are at the very heart of who we are. Self-discipline is our commitment to ourselves to be successful and our habits decide if we can stay disciplined. Habits take a long time (sometimes decades) to form but once formed, they become a natural extension of our personality. And then the journey to our goals is enjoyable and meaningful.

Today every device, app, and social media platform is vying for our attention. This can make it challenging to keep our mind focused and in control. It is no wonder that our average attention span is getting shorter as technology advances.

Our desire to try new things or fear of missing out fills our lives with useless information, which leads to a cluttered mind. The mind jumps from one thing to the other without taking inventory of its actions. A cluttered mind is anxious, stressed, frustrated and impatient.

A cluttered mind quickly manifests itself in the form of a cluttered work space, a cluttered closet or a cluttered desktop! An organized mind will execute ideas with clarity and conviction whereas a chaotic mind will make hasty and ill-informed decisions leading to stress and anxiety. A focused or a clean mind is controlled mind and immensely powerful.

Let’s look at some simple decluttering techniques that we can incorporate into our daily lives.

Simran is a higher form of meditation, the purpose is to remember God with every breath. Through Simran one is able to control the many thoughts that enter the mind. Focus the mind on chanting “Waheguru”. Begin by inhaling. Say “Wahe”, then pause, then say “Guru”. This technique is called ‘Saas Giraas’ Simran which is prescribed directly in Gurbani. Repeat the process again. The goal is to eliminate thoughts and clean the mind. If thoughts do come, try to push them aside and re-focus on listening to your own voice.

Read or listen to Gurbani and Kirtan every day. You can download the mysimran.info app, which is a great resource for the Daily Hukamnama, Kirtan, Simran, and Sehaj Paath recordings.

Break-down complicated tasks into small, manageable tasks and do Simran before each block of time. For example, if a particular report might take an hour, divide your time into 20-minute blocks. Try doing 2-3 minutes of Simran before each 20-minute segment for mental clarity.

Reduce the amount of time spent watching TV or viral videos on YouTube, reading blogs, following friends on social media or chat groups. Information overload causes anxiety and stress. Be discerning about what you watch or read to avoid cluttering your mind.

Organize your surroundings (workspace or inbox) and focus on necessities. Purge paper copies of emails or documents that can be stored online. Set a reminder to archive old emails or files every month. And don’t forget to wipe down your computer monitor with a special screen cleaner!

Don’t let your hard work go to waste by falling back into the trap of clutter and chaos. A mind that does Simran, stays in Gurmat and follows Gurbani is an organized mind. An organized mind is a stress-free mind.

How about calling in sick because it’s a beautiful day, and going to the beach? Countless policies, procedures and training is available to teach workplace ethics. At the same time, numerous instances of workplace ethics violations still come to surface. These can range from using company’s office supplies for personal use, to improper use of sick days and serious offenses like expense account fraud, or insider stock trading.

Ethical practices in the workplace cannot be different from ethical practices in our daily lives. For Sikhs, truthful living is known as Jivan Jaach and when applied properly, it takes care of all aspects of ethics – personal or professional. A Sikh derives his or her Jivan Jaach and ethical practices from Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. A Sikh’s conduct in different situations doesn’t deviate from the foundational teachings of his or her Guru.

The following examples illustrate how ethical behaviour can find its way into the workplace:

1. A Sikh executive who follows Jivan Jaach will not lie under any circumstance. This means never claiming credit for the work of other employees or, if working in a group setting, remembering to recognize the entire group’s efforts.
2. A Sikh restaurant server who believes in sharing and knows that Waheguru is the ultimate giver, will never withhold a portion of his tips from the common pot before the tips are divided with the fellow workers.
3. A Sikh employee who believes in sewa (selfless service), will know not to use up the last paper in the communal printer and instead, will refill the paper tray for the next person who uses the printer.
4. A Sikh employee who believes in earning an honest living will never spend several hours a day using his work computer to shop, check out sports scores, pay bills, do online banking, or surf the news headlines.

All these examples involve personal decision making. Only the person making the decision will ever know that there was a decision but each decision will have its impact as an individual, as an employee, as a Sikh, and as a human being.

An individual’s decisions that lead to ethical violations negatively impact the workplace culture and affect co-workers. An ethical or unethical response to even small things will result in the same behaviour and mindset for larger actions.

Let us live our lives, personal and professional, according to the teachings of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Let the three pillars – reading Gurbani, doing Simran and following Jivan Jaach – be the central part of our daily lives. The result? An enriched family, workplace and community for all!

We’ve all heard by now that multitasking at work leads to reduced productivity, so is it possible to stay present and mindful while I’m doing work?

First, let’s lightly touch on why meditation is important. It helps to improve concentration and focus, amongst many other benefits. When you begin meditating your brain matter actually changes. The benefits of meditation have been studied and reported by many, including the Harvard Gazette and Harvard Medical School. Meditation can help us become more mindful of our thoughts.

Let’s look at this another way. By being present and mindful, you’ll be able to control the hundreds of thoughts that come into your mind. So, instead of being bombarded by thought after thought, you’ll have the ability to take only necessary thoughts. This is why the power of being present is so critical in the corporate world. It can help you be more focused, more productive and achieve greater results!

In the Sikh faith, one particular way to stay present is through Simran, which is the process of chanting a particular mantra – “Waheguru”. This mantra is chanted in two syllables, “Wah-Guru” (‘Wah-Groo’). This specific technique is called “Saas-Giraas Simran.”

So, can I actually do Simran while I work? Aren’t I supposed to be focused on my work? Can I do both at the same time? The answer to these questions – yes!

Here’s how you might be able to incorporate Simran into your work schedule.

1. If your job requires walking, whether a lot or just a little, you can time the Simran to your footsteps. For example, if you’re a security guard, as your patrolling during your shift you can chant Wahe – Guru – Left – Right.
2. If you’re in a quiet area, challenge yourself! When you’re saying Wahe – Guru, have an interval timer/stopwatch running, and see how long you can chant without taking a thought. If you only last a couple of minutes, that’s ok. Start over. The longer you can go without taking a thought, the more control you have over your mind and the more present you can be.
3. When doing complicated tasks, try dividing that task into thirds and do Simran before each block of time. For example, if a particular report might take an hour, divide your time into 20 minute blocks. Try doing 2-3 minutes of Simran before each 20 minute segment for mental clarity.
4. Book yourself a meeting. If your work area is always busy and you’re unable to clear your mind in that busyness book yourself a meeting room. In that meeting room, do Simran. You’ll find that afterwards, you’ll be much more focused.
5. Always look for like-minded people, whether it be co-workers, friends, people in your community, or even family members. If they also enjoy Simran, or keeping a clear mind, you can buddy up and do Simran together.

Try incorporating some of these tips and see how smoother your days at work become.