We have all encountered employees who seem barely awake, who squander their work lives, who blind themselves to what is taking place within and around them, who speak and act inauthentically, who do not care about what they do, how they do it, to whom and why...This zombification and atrophication of work life happens incrementally whenever people are punished for being aware and authentic and, as a result, become frustrated, give up, cease caring and stop trying...

How in this state is it possible for them to learn and change? What could conceivably motivate them to continue developing, sharpening, and expanding their skills?...

In truth, their only real option in the face of these disabling experiences is to wake up and change their attitude toward what they have experienced. As they wake up, they increase their awareness, become more authentic, discover where their organization is not congruent with its professed values, and commit to improve their work processes, organizations, relationships, communities, and environments - not once or in isolation, but continually and collaboratively with others…….Waking up and cultivating awareness and authenticity reduce resistance by revealing a deeper identity that is not bound up in the past or future, or in what is constantly changing...

However we describe ourselves, whatever roles we assume, they do not touch the deepest parts of ourselves...Every role or description we use to describe ourselves seems solid, yet beneath it lies a thought and beneath the thought lies a thinker. Waking up means discovering the thinker. As we do so, we accept responsibility for our choices and recognize that our power lies there, rather than in our roles and self-definitions……

This awareness is available to each of us at every moment. It exists only in the present. It is an intrinsic quality of mind that can move from place to place and increase or decrease in scope and intensity of concentration. It can take the form of a spotlight that identifies shifts in the foreground or a floodlight that emphasizes congruity in the background. Over time it can be cultivated, exercised and enhanced just as it can be neglected, abandoned and allowed to atrophy.

The first goal of waking up is simply to increase our awareness by maximizing our ability to use internal and external feedback, which consists of information we can use to improve our skills and performance. The second, deeper and more profound goal of waking up is to become more authentic, centered, skillful and content with who we are as human beings.

excerpted from
The Art of Waking People Up
Kenneth Cloke & Joan Goldsmith
Jossey - Bass, 2003

To be Awake at Work is not a fixed or tidy state of mind that we achieve at some point. When we are Awake at Work it’s not as if we have accomplished something: like we have finally made it and we are once and for all Awake at Work. There is no final accomplishment we can look to - no state of mind that we can give a bonus to or promote to CEO. Rather, being Awake at Work is engaging our work precisely, genuinely and directly as it constantly unfolds - moment by moment - without bias or pretense. One moment the phone is silent, the next it is ringing. Today we have a job - our routines and responsibilities are laid out before us; the next day our job is gone - no routines, no responsibilities. Now we make the sale, now we lose the sale. To be Awake at Work is to engage each circumstance now - on its own vivid, fluid and uncertain terms.

When we wakefully engage each moment fully for what it is, we notice that who we are is put into question all the time. Just as our work circumstances change and shift, so do we. Who we are and who we would like to become is as uncertain as the circumstances we face. Try as we may, we can not find a solid identity at work. Today, we are a supportive and helpful colleague; tomorrow someone considers us problematic. Our new title of Vice president is one moment exhilarating, the next burdensome - other times irrelevant. Today we may be a successful executive - the team leader or the “dealmaker”. Tomorrow, we are jobless - no longer established but undefined and searching. To be Awake at Work is to acknowledge that the entire situation - our job and our version of ourselves at work - is fluid and constantly changing. In short: No ground; no guarantees, just now……..

Typically, business treats such groundlessness or uncertainty as a liability or inconvenience: a temporary mirage on our way to perfect and lasting control. It’s as if work perfectly executed, perfectly eliminates uncertainty, guaranteeing success with no surprises, no mistakes, no risks misjudged. To be Awake at Work is to take exactly the opposite viewpoint. Rather than being a liability to be eliminated, groundlessness is acknowledged as the foundation or essential nature of all that we experience - the basic and unavoidable fact of life that everything is constantly changing. Such reality provokes and tickles our attention because we never really know what’s going to happen next. We are Awake at Work precisely because everything is in question. Everything that we are, everything that we are doing, everything that we want and desire, is basically in question each and every moment and this powerful and sharp reality demands us to wake up…...

Most importantly, No ground; no guarantees, just now reminds us that we are tremendously free as we engage work moment by moment. By acknowledging that who we are and what we do at work is never fixed, we discover a basic freedom, because anything can happen next. Remaining open and available to a world that is so vastly unpredictable requires us to be exceedingly brave and to trust that we are fully equipped to engage such events. To be that free is to be utterly available to our lives - to trust that we have the ingenuity, good humor and curiosity to adapt and thrive, no matter what the circumstance

excerpted from
Awake at Work
By Michael Carroll
Shambhala Publications, 2004

To often laugh and much;

To win respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends.

To appreciate beauty;

To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child, a garden
patch or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded.

Mindfulness or sitting meditation is a friendly gesture towards ourselves where we take time to simply be and the mindfulness developed in the practice naturally unfolds on the job guiding us to Be Authentic, precise and decent. Sitting down and being still is at the heart of being awake at work. Yet, such meditation can not be rushed or forced, so we need not hurry; we can be flexible with ourselves and our life circumstances as we learn this practice.

To learn more: http://www.awakeatwork.net/about/med.html

A newly recognized neurological phenomenon called attention deficit trait (ADT) identifies a widespread epidemic among frenzied executives and managers who have difficulty staying organized, setting priorities, and managing time and who feel a constant low level of panic, guilt and impatience.

81% of executives surveyed felt open-mindedness was critical to work while only 30% felt that the workplace actually stimulated open-mindedness.

72% of executives surveyed felt honesty was critical to work while only 12% felt that the workplace actually stimulated honesty.

A 2002 Harvard published study indicates that attorneys who practice mindfulness exhibit an enhanced ability to listen openly and engage conflict without anxiety or resentment.

An estimated 8% of the nation’s population meditates.