>> Tracy Grove: My name's Tracy Grove. I am with the Services organization. I'm in
communications, so I'm not part of MSR, but I'm very grateful to be here today, so thank you for
allowing me to crash your party. I'm very pleased to welcome Jacqueline Carter to the Microsoft
Research Visiting Speaker Series. Jacqueline and I met about six months ago now, I'd say. I've
done some research around fear in the workplace and mindfulness, and I'm looking to bring that
program into the company, and so I had reached out to Jacqueline, having heard a lot about the
potential project and the work that they were doing around performance and mindfulness and
fabulous, fabulous work that they're doing. So very excited to see you back in person to talk to
us. She's here to discuss her book, One Second Ahead: Enhance Your Performance at Work
with Mindfulness. I think this is really good timing for us as a company, because as we
transform, and we're going through so much change, it feels like it's a great time to be thinking
about how we build our awareness around mindfulness and how we find those practical tools and
tips to help us get through what is a very tumultuous times of change for all of us, so we're very
happy to have her here. Jacqueline has over 20 years of consulting experience, helping
organizations manage change and achieve results. She's passionate about helping individuals
and organizations realize their potential through training the mind. She is a partner and director
at the Potential Project and is a contributor at the Huffington Post. Please join me in giving her a
very warm welcome.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Thank you. Well, it is great to be here, especially that you've all chose to
be in here as opposed to enjoying this beautiful weather. You could be outside jumping in
puddles right now, so I feel really privileged that you chose to join the session with me today.
So as Tracy said, I am ridiculously passionate about mindfulness and its application to work, and
you'll find that out in the next -- well, certainly in the next 40 minutes. But one of the things I
wanted to just check in, a couple questions before we get started, first of all, how many people
know anything about mindfulness. Okay, okay. How many people have never heard about
mindfulness at all. All right, a few of you. Great. So what I wanted to start out with is just a
common definition that hopefully we can all use for the next little while, so that we can all agree
that we're talking about the same thing. Fundamentally, what I want to invite you to consider is
that mindfulness is a set of tools and techniques to enhance mental effectiveness. Does that
sound good as a starting point? So how many here would like to know how to enhance your
mental effectiveness? Okay, then we're all in the right session. Okay, so that's great. So what I
want to do today is I actually want to cover three things. First of all, I want to talk to you about
why I think it is so important to talk about mindfulness and mental effectiveness in today's work
environment. Secondly, what I'd like to do is actually talk to you about what is mindfulness,
give you more of a definition and actually introduce a mindfulness practice together. The third
thing is I want to make absolute sure that you walk away from this session and you have
something practical, tactical that you can actually take away and apply when you go back to your
work. Does that sound good? All right, now, before we get started, I'll just give you a little bit
more of my history. So I was with Deloitte for many years. Actually, I worked here in Seattle.
One of my clients was Puget Sound Energy, and I also worked in Canada. I'll say about, and
then you can figure out that, yes, I am Canadian, and we can get over it. And I also worked in
Australia, and I loved it. I was in a very -- Deloitte Consulting, as you probably know, very high
pressure, always-on, very professional environment, and at the same time, I was also a long-term
mindfulness practitioner. Now, at that point in time -- this was, again, many years ago -mindfulness wasn't as popular as it is today. And in fact, mindfulness at that time, and even still
a little bit today, people would see mindfulness as being a little bit flaky or woo-woo. Anybody
maybe think that that might be still true a little bit today. Maybe, yes? So when I was with
Deloitte Consulting, I was a very strong mindfulness practitioner, but I was in the closet, because
the last thing that I was going to tell a bunch of utility workers at Puget Sound Energy was that I
like to sit and count my breaths for any period of time, because that just wouldn't go over well.
So this idea of mindfulness and how do we actually connect it to business? Because
mindfulness, often, people have this idea, it's about sitting still and being slow. But what does
that mean in terms of business results, which I'm hoping is what we'll be able to connect those
dots today in this session today. Now, again, for me, it's been a really exciting journey, because
as I said, when I started out as a practitioner in mindfulness, it wasn't that popular. But actually,
when we look today, there are so many companies now that are introducing mindfulness into
their organizations, and these are not just flaky or woo-woo companies like Google. It's actually
companies like serious companies like Sony, like Nike, like Ikea, and actually, the Potential
Project, we're actually working with your colleagues in Europe and doing programs, many
programs, with your colleagues. But you can also see banks. We also work in heavy industries.
So this idea of mindfulness into organizations, why is that so important? And what I want to
suggest to you and actually consider how this applies to you is what we see working with
organizations around the globe, that there's really two reasons why companies find mindfulness
to be so beneficial. The first reason has to do with what's going on in the external reality. The
second reason has to go with what's going on in the internal reality. I'll start off with the external
reality. In terms of the external reality, what we see in organizations all around the world is
they're characterized by four common qualities. One is some degree of pressure. Two, being
always on, three, information overall, and D for distractions. Now, how many of you can relate
to at least three out of those four? How many are going four for four. Outstanding, yes. So this
idea that we're all feeling this pressure, being always on, as Tracy talked about, lots of
complexities in daily work life. Now here's another interesting question for you. How many of
you think just on its own, or maybe because you're Microsoft, you'll be able to fix it somehow,
that somehow this paid reality is just going to naturally get better? Any optimists in this room?
No one. Oh, yes, thank you. There's always one. Thank you. All right, for the rest of you,
though, and probably for me, as well, I think that this is our reality today, and it's probably going
to continue to be challenging for us, in terms of the experience that we have at the workplace,
correct? So that's the external reality. It's tough, and it's probably going to get tougher. But now
what we want to do is look at the internal reality, and for that, the question that I would ask you
is how important are results to you? Is that obvious? Yes, they're important. Results, and that
can be whether it's actually at work or at home. Results are important to us in terms of making
sure that we're actually doing things, achieving things that are important to us. So the next
question is, if we want to look at the internal reality, we say, where do results come from? And
what we know is that results basically come from our actions. Our actions come from our
choices, and our choices come from basically how well we manage our attention. Does that
make sense? So there's a direct link between how well we pay attention and what we pay
attention to and what results we end up achieving. Have you ever got really great results without
actually paying attention? If you are, you're very lucky. Most of us, it's that attention and that
focus that leads to the results we want to achieve. So if this is true, that it makes a direct link
between attention and results, this next slide, I'm going to warn you in advance, it's a little bit
scary. Are you ready for it? Researchers have shown that over the last decade, our ability to pay
attention is getting less and less and less. Does that make sense? Can people experience that in
their daily lives? Do we need to put a number on it? Ready for this? Researchers have said that,
on average, 46.9% of the time -- that's average -- we are not paying attention to what is now.
Our mind is involuntarily wandering. So that means although I can see all of you in the room,
some of you have left. Some of you are thinking about the meeting that you had before you
came here. Some of you might be thinking about what you did next, or what you need to go to
afterwards. So this idea that oftentimes our mind isn't necessarily where we want it to be, and if
that's true, then the question is, what implication does that have from a business perspective in
terms of us achieving the results? Because if we look at that in terms of business, what that
basically means is that 53.1% of the time, we're focused, we're results driven. We can be
creative. We're engaged in our job. But 46% -- bless you -- 46.9% of the time, we're distracted,
we're inefficient. We can be rigid in our thinking. We can be overwhelmed and stressed. But
this is just average. You guys are Microsoft, so I'm sure this is not true for you, right? Right?
Well, should we test it, just to have a little bit of fun? Yes. You're ready for that? It won't hurt
much, I promise. What I'm going to do is I'm going to set my timer for 45 seconds, and what I
want you to do is I want you to have one thought. You can pick that thought. It doesn't have to
be about work, but you can only think about that one thought and nothing else. Are the
instructions clear? All right. Ready, set, go. All right. So would anybody like to share what
happened? Yes, the optimist.
>>: I was doing pretty well until my watch buzzed.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Until your watch buzzed, and then you got distracted?
>>: I said, well, I wonder who that is.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Very good. Thank you. Anybody else? Thank you so much for sharing.
Yes.
>>: I did pretty well, because I focused on the basketball team that I coach and how we could
run a better zone offense. So because I had something specifically that I was targeting, I was
able to do that pretty reasonably well.
>> Jacqueline Carter: All right.
>>: I did feel the temptation to wander, though.
>> Jacqueline Carter: You did feel the temptation. All right, yes, what was your experience?
>>: I was thinking about lentil soup and just how it's constructed and stuff, and then I noticed
that I was kind of rapid-firing in my brain, all these various different things about soup, and as
soon as I paused, I started to kind of wander quickly.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Right. Right, right, right. Did anybody else have an experience where
you were at least tempted, or during that 45 seconds, had other thoughts, or thinking about what
you should be thinking about, so meta thoughts, right? Or thinking about -- did anybody
challenge, does Jacqueline actually know how to count 45 seconds? Did anybody challenge
that? I have had people say, Jacqueline, that was the longest 45 seconds of my life, and the
reason why I actually take out my phone and time it is because I have had people say, there was
no way that was 45 seconds. Because 45 seconds, it's really quite interesting. I let you pick
what you wanted to think about. It didn't have to be at work. It could be something you like,
like coaching a basketball team, and for most of us -- that wasn't even a minute, and for most of
us, it's actually quite hard to stay focused on one thought. And again, if we tie that back to how
important it is, managing our attention and results, it shows that it really can be challenging in
terms of the internal reality to be able to help us achieve the results that we want to at work. So
it's a little bit like John here. This is John. He works at Microsoft, but he didn't want to come to
the mindfulness training, just so you know. So it's not anyone here. Now, John, actually, he's
got a really important report that he's got to write, but where are his thoughts? Golfing, right.
How well do you think he's going to do on his report? Probably not so well. Somebody at one
session said, yes, but if his report is on golf, he might be doing okay. His report is not on golf,
just so you know. It's something technical, so he's probably not going to do so well. But here's
the interesting thing. If we follow John a little later in the day -- not today. This must be another
day. Here he is out on the golf course, and now where are his thoughts? The correct answer is
his wife, okay? I have done this workshop all around the world. The correct answer is his wife.
I know John. That's his wife. Her name is Sally. Okay, now here's the interesting thing, and I
really want you to look at this and see if you can relate to it. Here John is now, finally having
that romantic dinner with his wife. Where are his thoughts? Back at work. Back at the report he
never finished writing. So here's the thing, and this is the reality that many of us experience is
oftentimes our thoughts are not necessarily where we need them to be. And it not only impacts
us in terms of our effectiveness at work or the things that we enjoy, but also in terms of our
social relations. So this from our perspective, I said the first thing I wanted to cover is hopefully
inspire you to say, this is why I believe it's so important for us to look at our mental effectiveness
and look at how our minds actually can sometimes negatively impact our ability to be effective
in the workplace. But I didn't come here to depress you about a reality that you guys already
probably can relate to and probably know. I came here to give you hope, and here is where the
hope comes from. Hope comes from something called neuroplasticity. Is there anybody here
that's heard of neuroplasticity? Yes, so it's basically neuroplasticity is the ability of our brains to
change based on how we use it, and this is incredibly cool, because basically what that means,
what scientists have discovered over the last two decades is that we're not stuck. The brain that
you have right now is actually not the same brain that you're going to have tomorrow or the next
week or the next week. Our brains are constantly changing based on how we use it, so if there's
a limitation for us, something that we would like to change about our brain, one of the things that
we know that we can do is we can actually train our brain to enhance our performance. So
specifically, we know that we can train our brain if our attention is something that we want to be
able to be more attentive, whether it's with our colleagues or even at home, we know that we can
train it. So another way of looking at mindfulness is mindfulness is really the ability to train the
mind to be able to better manage our attention. So if you look at what's in the center of the
circle, so this idea of how well can we train our brains to focus on the task at hand and not allow
the pressures, the distractions and all of the other things to get in our way. So it's a little bit like
this picture, this idea of going to the mental gym, going to the gym to train the attentional
muscle. Does that make sense? Any questions so far? Do you want to give it a try? Are you
ready? All right, so what I want to introduce you to is an extremely basic mindfulness training
method. Now, this is so basic, you're going to look at me and you're going to go, I can't believe
this is actually going to help me, because it's simple by design, because you already have enough
complexity in your life. I don't want to give you something complicated, because then you won't
do it, so I'm going to give you something so simple that hopefully you'll be able to remember it,
and actually, if you're inspired by it, actually start to practice it on a daily basis. Are you ready
for it? So the method is A, B, C, D. See if it all comes up. There we go, A, B, C, D. What I'm
going to do is I'm going to walk you through what each of the letters mean, and then we'll
actually do a mindfulness training exercise together. So starting out with the A, the A is for
anatomy, and one of the things you might be asking yourself is, why if I've been talking so much
of the importance of training the mind, why would I need to focus on my body? And basically,
what we want to be able to do is make sure that our body doesn't get in the way, because if our
body is stressed, it actually creates tension in the mind. So I'm actually going to invite you right
now -- we won't start the practice quite yet, but just take a moment to just notice, how relaxed are
you? Are you sitting comfortably? Actually just notice in your body, if I were to say to you to
sit right now with relaxed alertness, what does relaxed alertness mean for you? Remember, we
are in the mental gym, so I see people sitting up a little bit, so that's really helpful, to have a little
bit of a straight back. Ideally, you want to feel grounded, feet on the floor. You can just put
your hands in your lap, and you just want to feel comfortable, but it's not a Saturday afternoon
comfortable, sitting on the couch. This is the mental gym. So you might even want to take a
moment, because you're probably coming from at least a half day, Monday morning, Tuesday
morning, I guess, at work, and just even relax your shoulders. Just make sure that you just notice
any tension that you might be experiencing and just give yourself a little bit of a gift to say you're
just going to release a little bit of that tension. And that's essentially what we want to do with the
A for anatomy. Now, the B stands for breathing. If we want to be able to go the mental gym, we
need to be able to have an anchor. We need to be able to have something to focus on. And the B
is basically just an object. Truthfully, we could use a pen or this clicker, but the breath is
fantastic, because the breath is always with us, so that way we can do this training whether we're
in our office, whether we're about to do a presentation, whether we're in a meeting, anywhere we
go. As I should have asked you, are you all breathing? Yes. Then you have the tool. See how
easy that is? So the breath is just -- and what we're going to do is when we focus on the breath,
I'm going to invite you to just focus on it as a neutral observer. So you're not trying to breath
deep or long or slow or quick or anything. All I want you to do is just notice your own
experience of breathing, so you simply breathe in and breathe out. And when you do that, you
may be tempted to try to control it, because probably like most people, we have the tendency to
want to try to control things that we're observing. Just observe that and let it go. Don't try to
control it. Just let it be. Is that clear? Now, to help you out, the C is for counting, and what I'm
going to invite you to do, you'll breathe in, you'll breathe out, and just a quick count one, breathe
in, breathe out, quick count two, all the way up to 10, and when we get to 10, it gets very
exciting. Then we count backwards back down to one and just continue in cycles. Is that clear?
Now, the D is for distractions, and this is really where the real training happens, because if you're
at all normal, at some point during all this, you will get distracted, and that's actually a moment
to celebrate, because when you notice that you are distracted, that is actually when you're being
mindful. You are aware that you are no longer focused on the object of your choice, and you get
to make actually flexing the attentional muscle, bringing the attention back to the object of your
focus, which is your breath, and just starting counting from one again. Does that make sense?
Are you guys ready to give it a try? Any questions before we get started? All right, so what
we'll do is I'll set my timer, and I will suggest that if it's easier for you, you can close your eyes
when we do this, but if you're uncomfortable closing your eyes, I just recommend having a soft
gaze, 45-degree angle, just looking at the floor, so you don't get distracted by your colleagues.
I'll set my timer. We'll try it just for five minutes. I'll guide you a little bit, and then there'll be a
little bit of silence, and then afterwards, we'll see how it goes. Sound good? All right, so I'll just
set my timer. And ready, set, starting now. So again, taking a moment to just tune in with your
anatomy, noticing any tension that you might be experiencing anywhere in your body, and
allowing yourself the gift of a moment to just relax in an otherwise busy day. And when you're
ready, turning your attention to the experience of breathing, observing your breathe neutrally,
watching it go in and watching it go out. And when you're ready, begin counting on the out
breath, one up to 10, and 10 back down to one. And if at any point you get distracted, celebrate
that moment of awareness and simply return your attention to the breath and start counting from
one again, and continue like this in silence. And when you're ready, returning your attention to
the room. All right, what I'd like you to do is turn to a neighbor, and I want you to share one
thing that worked well and one thing that was a little bit challenging. And for those of you
online, if you just want to take some notes, one thing that worked well and one thing that you
found challenging. Everybody pair up somehow. All right, coming back. All right, who would
like to share one thing that went well for them? Yes.
>>: I felt very relaxed, and maybe a bit too relaxed.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Right, right. Great. Thank you for sharing. Anyone else? Yes.
>>: I liked the counting down from 10. Sometimes, I count up the whole way, and my ego starts
getting involved, and that just takes that out. That's nice.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Great. Great, great, great, great. Thanks for sharing. Anyone else? Yes.
>>: I think for me, I didn't reach 10. Most of the time, I got distracted and went back to one, but
I was happy I was able to notice that I'm getting distracted.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Exactly, exactly, and that's such a key point. The objective of the exercise
is not actually to see how many times you can get to 10 and back down to one. It's actually to
notice when you're distracted, because that's when you're really flexing the attentional muscle, so
that's great training. Great. How about -- yes, Amy.
>>: There's a few comments from online from people saying that they had nearly fell asleep.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Yes, okay. So that is actually the most common challenge in mindfulness
training, is that especially for those of you, if I invited you to close your eyes, that you may
actually find that that is one of the most common challenges. There's two reasons why you start
to fall asleep in mindfulness training. The first one is because you are tired. The majority of
Americans are sleep deprived. They say something like 70% of us are simply not getting enough
sleep at night. And actually, let me just ask you this. For those of you who may have trouble
getting to sleep, what often is it that keeps you awake?
>>: Thoughts.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Thoughts, exactly. So if there's no other motivation that I can give you
today to try mindfulness training, one of the things that they've shown conclusively is that
mindfulness training, because it helps you let go of a lot of those thoughts, clear the mental
clutter, so you can actually get good-quality sleep at night. The second reason, though, that you
might fall asleep during mindfulness training is because it's so weird to be sitting still in the
workplace. And when I invite you to do that, it's like, oh, it must be naptime. How nice is that?
If that happens to you, the invitation is to just sit up a little straighter, remembering that you're in
the gym. Open up your eyes a little bit if you had them closed to let a little bit of light in, and
don't beat yourself up for it. It's very common, very natural. Thank you so much, Amy, for
sharing that. Any other challenges that people had? Yes.
>>: The big challenge I had was I'd get up to like six or seven or eight, something like that,
realize, oh, for the last four counts, I was thinking about something else. It took me a long time
to recognize that my mind was indeed wandering, because I was still counting. So it felt like I
was doing all the right things, but then I realized, oh, wait a second, I shouldn't be thinking about
X, Y, Z.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Exactly, exactly, so basically, you were going on autopilot with
accounting and still getting distracted, but awesome awareness. That's great. Somebody else
had another? Yes.
>>: I felt like was spending a lot of effort trying to breathe in and out, and so it didn't seem like I
was breathing normally. Actually, it was regulated breathing.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Yes, and what's really interesting, and that's one of the things I said, is
oftentimes when people do this, is they try to control their breath, and it's actually really
challenging for us. It's a really good exercise, because there's lots of things in life that you can't
control, so actually training yourself to let something be is a really great training in and of itself,
but it's hard for many people. Thank you for sharing. Tracy?
>> Tracy Grove: Sounds in the room, it was like a dog after a squirrel. Okay, I hear I again.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Exactly.
>> Tracy Grove: So it was kind of -- a couple of phones went off and things.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Exactly.
>> Tracy Grove: Where was I again?
>> Jacqueline Carter: Exactly, which is again -- and this is training. The ABCD method, it's
designed to be something that you can do in a busy office environment. I'm guessing that it
probably is distracting in your work environment, so if you can train yourself to do this, the idea
of doing this isn't to be able to do it in a perfectly quiet space, because even at home, there's
probably not perfectly quiet places. So the idea is to notice that it's just a distraction, come back
to the breath, start counting from one again. Anyone else? Any other challenges that people
had?
>>: I was sort of wondering, what's normal breathing, because once I pay attention to it, am I
breathing normally?
>> Jacqueline Carter: Right, right.
>>: Or am I controlling it?
>> Jacqueline Carter: So you start to analyze your breathing. Yes, exactly, so again, thoughts.
So really, that's just a distraction. Anything that isn't the breath, any thoughts, even if they're
thoughts about the breath, they're just distractions, so let them all go. Just focus on the breath.
Amy, did you have something else from online?
>>: The exact comment, yes.
>> Jacqueline Carter: The exact comment. So there's oftentimes three challenges in mindfulness
training. The first one, as I said to you, the most common is that you get sleepy. The second
challenge that people had, which is actually maybe very similar to what you were articulating,
was this idea that you tried too hard. And actually, maybe that was good for you to maybe go
backwards, kind of your experience is that people, most people, especially in a workplace, and I
can tell you from my own experience, type-A personality, I want to the best at mindfulness
training. I want to count one to 10 and 10 back down to one a million times. And that just
creates tension for us. So one of the invitations, and thank you for sharing that you felt relaxed,
even though maybe too relaxed. But that continual ability that we want to make sure that we can
be very, very, very, very focused but also very relaxed, not creating unnecessary tension. The
third challenge could be similar to I think what you were talking about, is just our minds are so
busy, or we're getting distracted. And quite honestly, that's just normal, but it's also a really good
thing to notice, because if right now your mind is really cluttered, maybe you don't want to have
that really crucial conversation with one of your employees. Maybe you want to do something to
clear your mind a little bit so that you can actually be less cluttered. So when we're doing our
mindfulness training, there's three core qualities that we're looking at developing. We want to be
able to relax, because that's so important, but with relaxed alertness. We want to train ourselves
to be able to be focused on an object of our choice, and we also want to clear the mental clutter,
so we're training ourselves to have a more clear mind. So those are the three things that we look
at as we're doing that training. And what I want to show you now is actually what's happening in
your brain as you're doing that training, and this is images from an fMRI scan actually looking at
the active participation of people as they're going through that process that you just went
through. And basically, here what you can see, on the left-hand side of the screen, this part of
the brain is actually what they know is related to when we're focusing our attention. It's like the
traffic cop for the mind. It's what says, I'm going to pay attention to you. I'm not going to pay
attention to you. So that area of the brain is really, really, really important to us. We know that
our mind just naturally wanders. It has a natural tendency, and sometimes, mind wandering isn't
actually a bad thing, but it's really important to notice it. When our mind wanders, it pulls either
from somatic experiences, so something from a touch, from sounds, but oftentimes from
memories, from thoughts, and you can see how it activates different parts of the brain. This is
the key part in the training, and that was your experience. This is when you're actually aware
that your mind is wandering. That's that aha moment where now you have a choice, and you can
redirect your attention and bring it back to focusing on the object of your choice. And what we
know is going through this cycle again and again and again, this part of the brain actually grows.
It's actually a thickening of the prefrontal cortex, and I don't know about you guys, but in my
paid reality, I want the thickest traffic cop for my attention that I possibly can get. And so that's
the idea, and so even just now, after doing that training just once, it actually helps. Every time
you do it, the brain just continues to read, develop and rewire so that you can be more attentive
and more focused, not only at work, but also in everything you do in life. Any questions about
that? So just to look at just a little bit more about the research, as I said, there's tons of research
on this, one of them being enhanced sleep quality. Also, huge benefits from a workplace
perspective. They've shown that people reduce stress, enhance their performance, enhance job
satisfaction and many other things. And if any of you are interested in the research behind this,
I'd just share this with you, because for me, it's very motivating to see what the science actually
says. Again, that simple exercise sounds so simple, but a lot of really compelling evidence in
terms of the potential benefits. But what I want to do now is, like I said, I want to make it
practical for you. I want to give you something that you can actually walk away with out of this
session and use when you go back to your office. To do that, what I want to first introduce is
this idea that work life has changed significantly. I don't know, does everybody in the room
know what this is? Do you know what this is? I know you're very young. This, I can actually -I was trained on one of these, so I'm old enough to remember what this is. But for most of us,
especially you guys at Microsoft, your worlds look much more like this, right? Constant
distractions, lots of things. Now, again, this is talking about the mind. Does anybody know what
happens to our mind when we're getting lots of streams of information, and we try to do them all
at the same time? Does anybody know the word for when we try to do lots of things at the same
time? Multitasking. Are there any really good multitaskers in the room? No one's willing to
admit that, because you may know what's coming next. All right, what I want to do is I want to
invite you to test your multitasking skills. Are you game? All right. If you could all make sure
that you have a paper, there should be paper for everyone, and a pencil or a pen. And online, you
can do this, as well, and Amy's just handing out some to anybody that doesn't have any. This is
again just another fun little exercise, and we'll just test your multitasking skills. It also won't hurt
much, I promise. What I want you to do, when I say go -- has everybody got a paper and pencil
now? Okay, great. What I want you to do is first I want you to just draw four horizontal lines,
like you see on the screen, on your piece of paper. All right. Good? All right, now what I want
you to do, only when I say go -- so this is a test of your attention -- not yet. When I say go, I'm
going to invite you to write I am a great multitasker on the first line and the numbers one to 20 in
the second line. I am going to be calling out increments of five seconds, and I want you to
simply take note of how long it took you to write all of the letters and all of the numbers. Are
the instructions clear? Okay. When I say go, you're just going to write, I am a great multitasker
and the numbers one to 20, and just take note of how long it took you. Clear? All right, ready,
set, go. Five seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 and 30, and I think everyone's
done. Okay, great. All right, now, it's going to get a little bit more interesting. What I'm going
to invite you to do when I say go, and only when I say go, is now I want you to do this. You're
going to write I and then 1, A and then 2, M and then 3, until you've written all of the letters and
all of the numbers. Are the instructions clear? Ready, set, go. Five seconds, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30,
35, 40, 45, and 50, and if you're not done, don't worry about it. It really wasn't that important
anyway. Okay, so let me ask you a couple questions. How many of you made any mistakes in
the first exercise? How many of you made mistakes or almost made mistakes in the second
exercise. Almost all of you. Okay, how many of you found that the second exercise took longer.
By how much, on average? Twice as much. Okay, and how many of you found that this was
pretty easy, but this was a little bit more stressful. So interesting, we learned three interesting
things about multitasking. One, we make more mistakes. Two, it takes longer. And three, it
actually creates stress. Now, what's interesting is I don't know about you, but certainly when I
was with Deloitte, one of the things that they actually hired for was are you a great multitasker.
In your work environment, is multitasking something that at least people try to do, are you
tempted to do, or praised to do? And this is basically -- and what's really interesting is there's
been a lot of research now on multitasking, which is why I think most of you didn't put up your
hands about being a good multitasker. But what we know, actually, is this is actually research
that was done a number of years ago at Stanford University, and the researchers actually were set
out initially to find out what are the benefits of multitasking, because it was all the rage in terms
of every organization wanted great multitaskers. And what they found was they found zero
benefits, but they found a whole bunch of downsides. Specifically, just like your experience,
they found that it reduces our efficiency because of that switch time. They found that people lost
a sense of overview. Did anybody forget how to count in the second exercise? What number
comes after 16? It also decreases our quality, because we make more mistakes. I'll come back to
this one afterwards. Also, it hampers our creativity. Did anybody feel like your brain was just a
little bit fuller in the second exercise, so you don't have that space for creative thinking? It also
drains our energy. Every time we switch tasks, it's not free. It's mental energy. The brain is
basically using glucose and oxygen. If we use it unnecessarily to switch back and forth, were
actually using up mental energy. It also reduces our wellbeing, because we become more
stressed, and here's the actual scary one. Research has now shown that basically the number of
times that people check their phone on an ongoing basis is directly related to the shrinkage of the
prefrontal cortex. That traffic cop that I told you about, it actually gets smaller, because
essentially, what happens is because the brain changes -- like I said, the brain basically changes
based on how you use it, so if you want to be a really good multitasker, multitask all the time.
Then you'll have a brain that's constantly not efficient, has low prioritization, is not very creative,
and all of the rest, because it creates habits for us. Does that make sense? Yes.
>>: You said that you can train it.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Yes.
>>: Can you train to be a better multitasker?
>> Jacqueline Carter: The research says no. Based on the research, the research says that in
terms of our ability to pay attention, it's basically a one-lane road. We can keep other things in
our awareness, but in terms of our attention, if we really want to be efficient and effective, what
we need to do is we need to not multitask. And what I'll show you now is I want to give you two
rules to be able to walk away with on how you can avoid the multitasking trap. Ready? So these
are the two rules of mental effectiveness, and this is basically taking the ABCD training that I
walked you through and now putting it into action. The first rule, rule number one, is focus on
what you choose. So when you go back to your office, when you're sitting at your desk and you
have a really important email to write, focus on what you choose. Just like you focus on the
breath, now, the object of your choice is the email, and it looks like this. You're focusing on the
email, and your colleagues walk by and they start talking about some great party that they're
going to tonight. Right? This happens, right? And your brain, because your brain is kind of a
sucker for anything that's more interesting than what you're not doing right now -- it's called
shiny object syndrome. Your brain wants to have, oh, I wonder what they're talking about. But
you've trained your brain. You've gone to the mental gym. You say, that is just a distraction.
I'm going to let that go, just like you do in the mindfulness training, and you put your focus back
on the email, because you want to be able to get it done so that you're efficient and you're
effective and you can go on to the next thing. Or what happens is you're sitting there and you
start thinking about the meeting that you have to go after you finish this email. That's just a
distraction. It's just making you less efficient, less creative, more likely to make mistakes. Does
that make sense? Rule number one. Sounds simple, but it's challenging if we don't focus on it.
Now, here's the thing. You're sitting there, you're typing that email, and your boss comes into
your office, and she looks really funny. Her face is red, her hair is standing on end, and she says,
I need you in my office right now, because our most important client is having a major issue.
And you say, you know what? I just attended this mindfulness training session, and she told me,
I could just focus on what I choose. Rule number one. Is that going to work out well? Probably
not, so we need a second rule. The second rule is, and this is equally important, is choose your
distractions mindfully. So the colleagues talking, that's just a distraction. The thoughts about
what comes next, that's just a distraction. Your boss is probably a distraction that you want to
pay attention to, and she probably wouldn't like you calling her a distraction, just a note to self.
But you don't want to do one of these, right? You don't want to say, yes, boss, how -- because
what are you doing then? You're multitasking, right? So what you do is you completely let go
of the email, you take your full attention, point it on your boss, and now she becomes rule
number one. Is that clear? Can you try to implement that when you get back to the office?
Should I make it even simpler for you? I'm going to put it in a two-by-two matrix. Are you
ready? All right. So matrix of mental effectiveness. The ABCD training in a two-by-two
matrix. Basically, what this looks like is as opposed to being distracted and having that
wandering mind, we want to have a sharp focus. That's when we're paying attention to the breath
or to the email. Same thing. That's the vertical. On the horizontal, we don't want to be on
autopilot, where we're basically being mindless about what's happening. We want to make sure
that we're aware of what we're focusing on. Now, if I put numbers in those quadrants, where
would you say you perform at your best? Two, right? Why is that? Sorry?
>>: Lots of attention.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Lots of attention and focus. Exactly. So that's basically another definition
from this session. We can define being mindful as basically when we're focused on the right
thing, and we're aware of those things that we're not going to be focused on, so that sweet spot of
focused attention. Can you see any other quadrant that might be useful at any other point in
time? Yes?
>>: One.
>> Jacqueline Carter: One. How come?
>>: If you need to do repetitive tasks, like in Excel kind of thing, you want to be in one for
maybe that time to get that done effectively.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Absolutely. And we call that -- it could be considered kind of a flow
state, also for athletes that just want to focus on what they're doing and not actually have to think
too much about it, although I hope those Excel sheets aren't like payment terms or something.
Anyway, we won't go there. Can anybody else see any other quadrant that might be beneficial at
certain points in time? Can you see any benefits of sometimes having a distracted mind?
Anybody see any benefits?
>>: I'm sure this could get me in trouble with some attorney somewhere, but driving in three.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Driving in three? You want to drive in three? Can you tell me where you
live, because I don't want to drive near you.
>>: I think along these lines, where you've got the basic execution of what you're doing on that
road, even that awareness is on autopilot, but you've got higher brain function available to
process what you're listening to on the radio and those types of things to help keep engaged and
not nod off.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Yes. For me, I would not want to drive -- would you want to drive with
other people that are in quadrant three?
>>: If they're having a conversation with me while they're driving.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Well, that's interesting. That's interesting, and for me, what is amazing to
me about the brain, it's amazing that we can drive on autopilot, because I know we can. Many of
us have probably had the experience where you get home and you have no idea how you got
there. So for me, it really is quite impressive. But the thing that I would challenge you on in
terms of driving a vehicle and being on autopilot is if I put you in the middle of Shanghai and
said, can you now drive on autopilot, my assumption is you would not be able to, because you
would actually have to pay attention to what you're doing. And I actually think that also -because things can come up that are unexpected. But the other quadrant, yes.
>>: [Indiscernible] muscle memory and you train. You're on autopilot, whether it's riding a bike
or swinging a golf club, the less you think, the better you do.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Exactly, and that's why there's nothing wrong with being in flow, and a lot
of athletics are in that space. Yes.
>>: Running while listening to an audiobook or something, would that be three?
>> Jacqueline Carter: Well, I don't think so, because to me, I'm a runner, and I still -- it depends
on what I'm paying attention to, so am I paying attention to the music? Am I paying attention to
my feet hitting the pavement? I can't think of anything nice in three, but I can think of
something nice in four, so four oftentimes, we look at in terms of being a space for creativity.
Sometimes, it's nice to kind of let go of that sharp focus and just open your mind up and see what
possibilities. But the idea being is that if you actually want to turn those great ideas into
innovation, something that you can actually turn around, you need to be able to have that ability
to manage your focus. For me, quadrant three, we really couldn't come up with a nice word, and
we just called that mindless. That's just my experience. But the invitation for you, this is
another tool that I'm hoping that you can take away and use in your day-to-day work life. The
invitation to you is to say, okay, where are you right now? In terms of your mind state, where
are you in the matrix? What quadrant are you in and what quadrant do you want to be in? So
when you're driving, you can make that choice. Just let me know where you're driving, so I can
avoid your car, but when you're in a meeting, when you're doing a presentation, when you're
about to go into a brainstorming session, what quadrant are you in and where do you want to be?
Because one of the key ideas of mindfulness, and certainly, mindfulness in terms of enhancing
our performance is that it is a choice. We can choose where we want to place our attention and
focus, so this is just another tool that you can use to actually challenge yourself where are you,
and where do you want to be? Yes.
>>: I'm thinking about situations that are really painful, like in sports where you're pushing
yourself to exhaustion, or if you have a physical condition that's very painful, sometimes, I've
had the experience of trying to put my mind somewhere else to keep my body going but to not be
in touch with the pain that I'm experiencing. I don't know if that's a good situation, or if it's
better to be mindful and really absorb and work through.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Yes. Well, there's two things I would say about particularly pain, and I
think you're right. In an individual experience, for myself, there are times when I'm if I'm
ignoring the pain that I'm experiencing, I may be damaging my body. Pain is a way of telling
your body there's something wrong, and so if you start blocking out pain, you could actually be
not recognizing that you do need to stop or you do need to do something else. At the same time,
though, for me, there's actually a beautiful experience of being mindful of pain. I'm aware that
I'm experiencing pain, but if I'm not adding onto anything to it, I'm just allowing myself. I just
notice that I have pain, it's actually that ability I think from an athletic perspective to push past it.
But it's knowing hat, and that's something, fine-tuning your attention to see what your experience
is like.
>>: I actually have something I want to share about the physical exercise -- for example,
running. And this is one thing I got from a book called Born to Run. When you're running, you
can think about the pain. It's like a child. You can caress your child, like to say to him that the
pain is going to be over and it will be fine, and constantly focusing on that pain, on that transition
process, I find that it's very helpful for me.
>> Jacqueline Carter: And that's a key thing, too, again, using the mindfulness training, is the
idea being is pain is something you can observe, just like the breath. So you don't try to control
it. You don't try to make it go away. You just simply observe it, and actually, I love your
analogy of actually being kind to it. And I'm just noticing -- I'm happy to take questions
afterwards. I'm just noticing the time, so we'll just wrap up, and then those people that need to
leave, they can go. But one of the things that I just want you to walk away with is to think about
how could you actually apply those two rules and the matrix of mental effectiveness? How
could you actually apply those to be able to enhance your performance at work? And again,
designed to be simple, but not always easy to apply in a busy, always-on, high-pressured work
environment. The other aspect that I would just say is just one -- to tell you the story, just before
we wrap up, of one second ahead. Basically, the story behind it is a client that we worked with,
his name was Jacob. He was a partner in a financial services firm, and he was busy, always on,
lots of things coming at him. And he came to us and he said, is there any way that you can help
me? I feel like my life is out of control, always dictated by other people's demands and requests.
Can anybody relate to that? Yes. Okay. So he went through our program, which is basically 10
sessions, one hour each week, including the mindfulness training exercise that we did, although
it advances as we go forward, as well as specifically looking at how can we apply mindfulness
into everyday work life? And after 10 weeks, one hour each week, in addition to 10 minutes of
ABCD on his own each and every day, we said, what did you get out of it? And what he said
was, he said, I got one second. And at first, we thought, oh, that doesn't sound very good. He
invested all of this time and he only got one second. But what he said was actually really quite
interesting. He said is that he had so many inputs that were coming into his life, but the
mindfulness training gave him the ability, as opposed to just having those autopilot reactions,
like the text comes in, and he would just answer it. The person comes in, and he would just
respond. He actually had the ability to be able to have a conscious response to all of those
stimuli in his life. So that's really the message that I would like to hopefully inspire you a little
bit with this talk today, about this idea of getting one second ahead of your own autopilot
reactions. What are those things in your life that you find you just get into habitual patterns
about how you work? And maybe by having that opportunity to pause in the moment and just
make different choices, to be able to respond to life's challenges, as opposed to simply react.
Thank you so much for your attention today. It was so great to be here. Thank you so much
Amy and the Microsoft Research centers. Thank you Tracy for introducing me. I'm happy to
stick around if you have any questions at all, and thanks again, and enjoy the weather. So,
please, I saw it -- there were some questions.
>>: We can ask questions in line.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Sure.
>>: We actually sign at the front, at the podium there.
>> Jacqueline Carter: Okay, great.
>>: And there are books still available, if anyone's interested.