What is mindfulness, and how can you incorporate practices that benefit you & your employees?

Sponsored by the East Baton Rouge Parish Library

In the hustle and bustle of today’s world, it can be nearly impossible to clear your mind completely and focus on the tasks at hand. Mindfulness can look different for everyone, but at its core, it’s the simple concept of completely focusing on the present moment without dwelling on or reacting to your wandering thoughts.

Incorporating mindfulness practices can lead to a healthier, more productive workforce and a better office culture, according to East Baton Rouge Parish Library Assistant Director Mary Stein. “Let’s all agree that it’s been a rough couple of years,” Stein says. “There are tools that the Library has, either micro-courses or full-length courses, that can help a manager create a more agreeable workforce and a more mindful place to work.”

East Baton Rouge Parish Library patrons have access to free courses through the Library’s subscriptions to LinkedIn Learning, Gale Presents: Udemy and Accel 5. The Library’s staff has selected several of them as a starting point for your mindfulness practice. Find these in the Digital Library at EBRPL.com.

Online courses to try:

LinkedIn Learning

The Headspace Guide to Mindful Workdays This course offers a mix of video and audio exercises designed to help you stay connected as you prep for the day, switch into “work mode,” and stay in the zone through closing time. Unplug at the end of the day and turn your commute into valuable me-time.

Driving Workplace Happiness Part of building engagement is creating opportunities for employees to feel happy—because happy employees are more productive employees. Learn what makes people happy at work and how investing a small amount in workplace happiness can make a big impact your company culture and your bottom line.

How Managers Create a Culture of Belonging Research shows that when individuals feel a sense of belonging at work, there is a 56 percent increase in job performance. What can managers do to create that sense of belonging? This course helps you define what belonging means to you and how you can create belonging for yourself and others at your organization.

Be the Manager People Won’t Leave With the “Great Reshuffle,” employees are quitting their jobs at the highest rates in over 20 years, and 41 percent of the global workforce is considering leaving their jobs. Manager relationships are becoming the make-or-break point for whether employees stay or go.

Gale Presents: Udemy

Mindfulness For Business Are you a leader who is struggling to conquer your critical inner voice? Is it becoming increasingly difficult to manage intrusive thoughts and stay focused on obligations? Mindful Business Leadership is a science-based program that combines elements of self-awareness, neuroscientific advances and positive psychology.

Authentic Leadership: Bring Your Whole Self to Work In today’s work environment, the lines between our professional and personal lives are blurred more than ever before. Whatever is happening to us outside of our workplace – whether stressful, painful or joyful – follows us into work as well. We may think we have to keep these realities under wraps and act as if we have it all together. However, we can work better, lead successfully and be more engaged and inspiring if – instead of trying to hide who we are – we show up fully and authentically.

Workplace Mental Health: A Manager’s Ultimate Guide There’s lots of management training out there, but so little of it focuses on the one thing that would really make a difference to you and your team – and that’s mental health. It’s in the media every day. But you don’t need to read the news to know that mental health at work isn’t as good as it could be.

Accel 5

Accel5 helps you develop critical skills in minutes. Book summaries and expert videos on topics such as leadership, problem solving, effective presentations and hundreds of others will help accelerate your career and be more successful at work and in life.