Open Door Conversations

Ep 42: Mindfulness for Busy Leaders

Episode Summary

The challenges of running a business, regardless of where you live, can create a lot of anxiety. In this episode, Akua outlines nine exercises that will help any startup founder or leader increase productivity, decrease stress, and recalibrate, especially if you experience heightened uncertainty from living in an emerging market. Akua is very familiar with various environmental stressors (she brings you this episode while experiencing a power outage as well as trying to avoid ambient noise from the nearby airport in Accra, Ghana). This episode seeks to normalize stressors like these that are beyond our control, particularly in developing countries. Those living in this type of environment don’t always acknowledge the added stress that comes from not having things work as expected. Examples could include having your time hijacked by needing to find diesel for your generator or having the internet go out during a Zoom meeting. It’s important to recognize the impact this constant unease can have on our leadership or business and to create routines and habits that help us adapt. In this episode are nine that you can adopt into your routine today to help your mental health and boost your productivity.

Episode Notes

The challenges of running a business, regardless of where you live, can create a lot of anxiety. In this episode, Akua outlines nine exercises that will help any startup founder or leader increase productivity, decrease stress, and recalibrate, especially if you experience heightened uncertainty from living in an emerging market. 

Akua is very familiar with various environmental stressors (she brings you this episode while experiencing a power outage as well as trying to avoid ambient noise from the nearby airport in Accra, Ghana). This episode seeks to normalize stressors like these that are beyond our control, particularly in developing countries. Those living in this type of environment don’t always acknowledge the added stress that comes from not having things work as expected. Examples could include having your time hijacked by needing to find diesel for your generator or having the internet go out during a Zoom meeting.

It’s important to recognize the impact this constant unease can have on our leadership or business and to create routines and habits that help us adapt. In this episode are nine that you can adopt into your routine today to help your mental health and boost your productivity.

Highlights in this Episode: 

• Akua describes some of the environmental stressors that can come from living in an emerging market. 
• Learn how being mindful helps recognize your stress and its cause and the first step to limiting it. 
• What to do before tackling any difficult task in order to keep yourself present, curb nervousness and ease stress. 
• The importance of building your emotional intelligence. 
• How to track your time so you can decide what to focus on, whether it makes sense to outsource or delegate, and how to use your time to the fullest. 
• The Circle of Concern versus the Circle of Influence and how to spend more time in the latter. 
• Distractions cause anxiety. Akua describes the biggest distractions we face and how to recognize and eliminate them before they become an issue. 
• Humans are not hardwired to multitask. Learn a few ways to focus and find out the ideal amount of time you should work before taking a break. 
• The time management technique of batching is a method of grouping smaller tasks that are similar and completing them all at once. Akua highlights some of these tasks and how to tackle them. 

Resources Mentioned: 

Blog Post: Easy first step to stay present 
Blog Post: Burnout - Better Leaders are not Stressed Out (Denial About Burnout) 

Connect with Akua Nyame-Mensah:

Instagram: @akua_nm
Website: www.akuanm.com
LinkedIn: @Akua Nyame-Mensah
Twitter: @akua_nm
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