Often we are too caught up in the busyness of our lives that we sometimes forget to focus on what’s important to us right then and now. MindWell is a company working towards creating mindfulness for the workplace to help people experience less stress and increase productivity. Coming this January, MindWell will be launching a 30 Day Mindfulness Challenge and they are inviting everyone to take part in this positive movement. Read on to learn more.

Describe your company and your primary products and/or services.

MindWell is in the business of developing mindfulness training to help people experience less stress, more joy and peak performance.

While we have created several in-person mindfulness courses for the workplace that have been studied by UBC and proven to positively impact work performance, creativity and conflict management, the company is now developing online training that will teach people the core skills of mindfulness.

Launching in January 2016, the 30 Day Mindfulness Challenge will be delivered online via any device, anytime and anywhere. After just five-to-10 minutes a day for 30 consecutive days, participants and their buddies (each person will be asked to invite a buddy from outside the organization at no additional cost) will become healthier, more productive and better able to problem-solve and work in a team. Improved leadership skills are also a proven benefit of mindfulness training.

What is mindfulness anyway?

Mindfulness is a systematic training of the attention to help people live their lives in the here and now. By teaching people to focus on this moment now, without judgement, they see things more clearly – the good and the bad, and can therefore respond more skillfully.

“Imagine coming home from a stressful day at work and your head is swimming with the day’s events,” says Dr. Geoffrey Soloway PhD, Training Director at MindWell. “Sound familiar? The problem with this scenario is that because you’re absorbed in the past and future, you’re not able to see what’s right in front of you. For example, did you notice the greeting you got from a colleague today? Did you enjoy or even really taste your food at lunch? Did you notice the surroundings on your way to work? All of these moments make up our lives and they pass us by unless we’re in the moment and paying attention.”

This paying attention is paying off for organizations around the world that embrace mindfulness.

Not surprisingly, tech giants like Google, Apple and Dell all have mindfulness training programs for employees but so do organizations like Target, Goldman Sachs, the LA Lakers and even the British House of Parliament.

What are MindWell’s goals for the coming year?

First up is to ensure our clients taking the 30 Day Mindfulness Challenge, including BCTIA, UrtheCast, Coke, UBC and others, have a positive experience. The Challenge has been in development for more than a year and we’ve worked hard to secure the involvement of these A-list organizations and now we need to deliver. Next up will be to fine tune the Challenge based on the feedback we get from clients and researchers at UBC’s Sauder School of Business who are studying the outcomes. From there we’ll roll the Challenge out more widely plus look at developing other online training tools and curriculum that support our core offering.

What do you need to focus on now?

Ah…. The “F-word” as BCTIA Executive-in-Residence Gary Boddington referred to it at a meeting in November. Right now there’s quite a bit of interest in MindWell and the Challenge from potential partners in the US, media and some really exciting global brands but we’re keeping our heads down in order to execute flawlessly, re-tool then scale up. We’re also trying to be mindful and stay open to what comes our way!

For more information on MindWell or the 30 Day Mindfulness Challenge, please visit www.mindwellcanada.com.

Follow our journey on Twitter at @MindWellMind