Illustration by Albert Rodriguez
I was advising the general manager of a luxury hotel group via Zoom at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. I knew him as an executive who usually kept his cool. But this time, he blew his cover: “As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has been so challenging for our industry. How can I keep my inner peace, my composure, to make the right decisions? Do you have any practical advice?”
He is not alone
Change in every industry is accelerating faster than ever before in history. Because the new economic order is evolving so rapidly, business owners and top executives are experiencing higher levels of stress and more difficulty in making decisions than ever before. It’s no wonder that Google searches for terms such as “well-being,” “why am I afraid” or “anxiety” have been at an all-time high recently.
How to stop decision paralysis
I have been fortunate enough to interact with and advise some of the world’s most famous business leaders and Fortune 500 CEOs. The self-made entrepreneurs in my personal network have a total collective net worth exceeding $53 billion at the time of this writing. Why am I telling you this? Because I know for a fact that all of them have one thing in common: they know how to tune out the noise, get in touch with their intuition, and know what the few key variables are that they need to focus on to make the most important business decisions.
Contrary to the world’s most successful business leaders, a lot of executives and business owners frequently get stuck in decision paralysis by over-analysis. This causes them to miss many valuable opportunities and sometimes, even costs them their business.
Therefore, it is fundamental that you become a master at tuning out the noise and identifying the key variables for each of your major business decisions.
Why has this become more and more complex and challenging for most executives? This is due to the information overload we are facing. According to Forbes, there are well over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created each day, and that number is accelerating rapidly.
The tool to turbocharge your success
In virtually all societies and cultures around the world, people have allowed themselves to be swamped by too much data and too much sensory input so they have forgotten what it feels like to be in touch with their inner guidance system.
But there is a secret to the success of many of the world’s high achievers and self-made billionaires: meditation.
The CEO and founder of multibillion dollar sales giant Salesforce Marc Benioff meditates. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates says meditation has been an invaluable tool for improving his focus.
The late Steve Jobs, considered one of the greatest icons in the tech industry, learned to meditate on a trip to India between 1974 and 1976. Billionaire investor Ray Dalio is an avid proponent of meditation and has frequently cited it as one of the most important tools in his decision-making.
Oprah Winfrey says meditation has changed her life and is a tool of “getting closer to God.” She has credited meditation as one of the most significant tools in her journey to billion-plus net worth.
Self-made multibillionaire Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, even aims to meditate twice a day, in the morning and at night.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is not a billionaire yet, but a shrewd businessman, real estate investor, and one of the most accomplished goal-setters of all time. When he reached his breakthrough success in the movie industry, he felt completely overwhelmed by the many decisions he had to make and the endless demands on his time. His solution? Meditate twice a day.
Easy and effortless
It is no wonder that behemoths like Google, Apple and Amazon, which need their employees to be at the top of the innovation game 24/7 have been offering meditation classes to their employees.
Meditation is not complex. It is not difficult. It has nothing to do with religion. All you need to do is to quiet your mind.
I am not a Buddhist but I was honored to be granted a private audience with the Dalai Lama as part of my work as the founder and chair of the World Peace Foundation, the charitable arm of the Tom Oliver Group. I learned from the Dalai Lama two important things: anything can be a meditation, and happiness is our default state of mind.
What does that mean?
It means that our mind always wants to return to that default state of happiness—that place where we are one with our intuitions and our inner guidance system. All we need to do is allow our mind to get regular periods to relax and get into a free flow, and it will automatically take us there.
This is why the second thing I learned from the Dalai Lama, that anything can be a meditation, is so useful. Whatever activity, no matter how silly it may seem, gives you that sense of free flow, of being one with yourself. Pursue it. This will allow you to get back to that place of calm, composed decision-making that is so fundamental in this rapidly changing business environment.
Practical steps and solutions
As we discussed above, anything can be a meditation. But a lot of my clients have found the simple but powerful exercise below extremely valuable in empowering them to make the right decisions.
For starters, begin with 20 minutes a day.
Lie down with your eyes closed. Then, gently move your attention to your breath. Imagine you are holding on to a boat that is floating on the ocean with one hand and looking at the wonderful sea life below.
Your hand is your attention; the boat is your breath. Stay with your breath as long as you need to feel comfortable and safe, then let go and swim freely—dive into the wonderful world of your mind.
Explore. No effort is required. Let your thoughts come and go. Trust the experience. It is that easy.
The more you do this regularly, without strain, the more you will trust yourself and your inner guidance system. And the easier it will become for you to separate the outside noise from your inner voice. You will become a master decision-maker, no matter how demanding and challenging your business environment may be. INQ