The 3 Things You Need to Know About Yoga to Get Promoted at Work
I used to work in the Advertising industry in NYC, and it was stressful, I didn’t even really like it, and I wasn’t progressing how I wanted to. When you look at that list, it kind of does all add up, but when I was in the middle of it, I was on the struggle bus.
Then, my career took off. Like, really took off and quickly. At one point, I got promoted three times in four years. And, this was compared to other people in my same department with almost identical experience as me (and same race and gender, which sucks that it needs to be clarified).
When I look back, the advantage I had was YOGA. It seems unlikely until you begin breaking it down. Of course, the physical yoga practice helps with general stress and anxiety relief, and I was practicing often, with incredible NYC teachers. But what really flipped the switch for me was the mindset work.
Here are the three things I learned about Yoga Philosophy that got me promoted -
ONE: Non-Violence - Most people think non-violence from a spiritual or philosophical standpoint means “don’t kill other people” and/or “vegetarian or veganism” which is true. And, on a more subtle level, non-violence can be towards yourself too. When I understood this, I realized how much I resisted everything about my job and work, ultimately waging war on myself to try to show up as a pleasant human. I wasn’t practicing non-violence in my internal world. I started to observe my own resistance to challenges and people at work, and began practicing “softening” to these things instead. I stopped unconsciously complaining about work load, things being “unfair,” or people being too difficult. Turns out when my brain wasn’t busy resisting, it could function towards finding solutions. Every boss wants solution-oriented team members, and the ones who can consistently find and present solutions on their own get promoted.
TWO: Reduction of Ego - I used to think that people with ego problems were only the ones that were super boastful, always talking about themselves, and their accomplishments (i.e. the cocky jock stereotype), and I didn’t put myself in that bucket. The truth is that pretty much all of us get caught making decisions from only our ego mindset rather than our higher selves. Anytime we fear someone’s opinion, get nervous, get our feelings hurt, need to prove our point or that we are right or validate how we’ve been wronged…it’s all ego. And my ego was quite active. For me, it showed up as a lot of nerves in presentations, wanting so badly for my managers to like me, believing that my work was a reflection of my value, trying to prove I was better than my colleagues, and needing validation that my work life was unfair to me. Do you know how much energy it takes to maintain all of these storylines? A LOT. Once I understood that these feelings were just the ego trying to make itself secure, I stopped arguing with my co-workers about doing it “my way,” I trusted that the solutions would arrive, and when they did, I let other people run point, relinquishing control. This freed up time to learn new things, and take on more responsibility. You know what more responsibility equates to at work? Promotions and raises.
THREE: Law of Actions and Non-Attachment - There’s a concept in Yogic Philosophy called “action without attachment” (sometimes called Karma Yoga) as a way to reach spiritual liberation. The idea is to take action without attaching to the results or product of your action. This concept is tough for Westerners because we often relate “attaching” as synonymous with “caring.” And we ask ourselves “Why would I even take action if I don’t care about the outcome?” This philosophy asks us to perform action with an intention towards the outcome we want (i.e. for most of us, it’s success), AND let go of the result. Maybe a better western word for it is “faith.” And ultimately, it’s an exercise of being present. When you are so focused in the present when working towards a goal or a pitch or a presentation, you can’t also be worrying and stressing about what will happen after that. So, perform your best action towards your desired outcome, with your most clear and focused and present brain, then release it, and trust and know that you’ve given it your very best. Sometimes before we even can focus on the actual project we come up with all these reasons why it can’t be our best. We don’t have enough time, or money or resources. When we spend energy there, and not on doing our very best with what we have, we’re attached to the outcome. And when our minds are unconsciously and subtly thinking about all the ways something might go wrong, it’s very difficult to do a great job. When I worked this new way with un-attachment and presence, I had so much more mental energy and focus to prioritize what was most important and complete it successfully with an unobstructed brain.
When these three things were all firing at once, I was basically unstoppable, and you can be too.