“Mindfulness” is a topic all over the headlines, generating more than 77 million hits in a Google search. But what does the term really mean, and how can security professionals practically apply it?
Tyler Murphy is a security manager and facility security officer at BAE Systems. He recently gave a talk on mindfulness at the NCMS Conference, an annual gathering for security professionals. He unpacked some of his takeaways in a recent interview.
“Our lives are very cluttered right now with thousands of different distractions,” said Murphy. “There are people whose whole jobs are to take some of our intention away and feed into those distractions. It makes it very hard as a security person, or in the corporate world in general, to try to focus on the things that really need attention, and that really need focusing on.”
That’s the cusp of mindfulness, according to Murphy – being present, in the moment, to accomplish what you need to do as a professional and a person.
“Mindfulness helps us bring us back to the now, and focus,” said Murphy.
It’s a topic that may seem more cerebral than practical, but Murphy offered several tips any professional can start implementing today:
- Be more positive in a negatively focused world.
- Embrace the ‘do one thing now’ initiative.
- Spread out mindfulness throughout your workday.
- Create separation between work and home.
For multi-tasking addicts, Murphy emphasizes mindfulness doesn’t have to be a practice that involves hours of focus on a single topic. It may consist of five or ten minute segments where you focus on accomplishing a specific, single objective.
As a security professional, Murphy also recognizes the struggle inherent in any field where it’s your job to solve problems – and work with people.
“There are some people in the security world that refer to us as firemen,” said Murphy. “And the reason why is because almost all of the time when you’re dealing with people, it’s this person’s worst day. Or it’s the worst thing that’s happened to this person.”
It’s also a field where individuals may walk up to your work space dozens of times a day to address issues.
“We get interrupted a lot more than a lot of the other functions do,” said Murphy. “We’re seen as a funnel for information.”
All of that interpersonal contact leads many individuals to react negatively – particularly when it comes to issues or problems that aren’t in their wheelhouse to solve. That’s where the positivity aspect of mindfulness comes in.
“I can’t make my workplace more positive, I can’t make the world more positive, but I can make the personal interactions with the individuals I work with more positive,” said Murphy.
Here are a few additional tips for applying mindfulness in your workplace:
- Remove distractions in advance, whether it’s unplugging the phone or even working in an alternate location.
- Don’t schedule the time – it will be too easy to move it or skip it. Make it a part of your practice throughout the day. Like life, it has to be flexible.
- The next time you know you’re going to be dealing with a negative person, spend a few minutes thinking something positive about the person, or wishing them the best, before you interact.
- Create separation between work and home. Don’t spend your commute marinating on a work problem, use it to refocus on your family, hobbies, and other things you love.
