Mindfulness is “Working out in the heart.”

Steve Lishansky is the CEO of Optimize International, the company he founded in 1992 specifically for successfully maximizing the development of top leaders and high performing executive teams in the US and internationally. He has worked with leaders and top performers from over 40 countries.

Questions that Holly and Steve explore include:

How do we get to be the best we can be in a personal sense, organizational sense?

When you’re already the best, how do you keep getting better?

What makes for a great life?

How do we bring the numbers and the wisdom together?

How do we reward reflection and create space for presence?

Mindfulness and meditation is a foundation for Steve. He’s been doing this for forty years.  In the midst of the battle, Steve is one of the calmest Type-A’s you’ll ever meet.

Years ago he started asking himself what makes people successful. He found that people who are most successful are always looking to get better. When he first started in business, he was doing ten year plans. In today’s world this is impossible.  He encourages leveraging strengths instead of spending time on weaknesses.

After 9/11, he observed that people needed a way to find center. He began sharing his knowledge about meditation.

The nature of the mind is to create thoughts. We become over-involved in those thoughts. We need to get space to get perspective. All of a sudden, you become the observer of your thoughts. You get to choose what to deal with.

Learning to do meditation in the beginning is tough, but he encourages readers to start and create a habit around it.

Perhaps 2020 is the year that we bring together people on both ends of the spectrum: data vs meditation. Steve shares that his teacher from many years ago shared with him “I never send a student to a cave to find God. Show me a place that God doesn’t exist.”

Power comes from being able to integrate multiple practices. It’s not about getting there faster, it’s about figuring out if “there” have more value? What would be more effective and have more impact and value? What is it that is making us think about what is less effective, impactful and valuable? Steve offers that meditation allows people the ability to be able to reflect. So often, people are working toward something that just doesn’t matter. Space and clarity and presence creates a place of making decisions from a position of mindfulness.  Even science is now proving what the yoga masters have been teaching for years.

Steve feels that going forward he wants to focus on teaching people what sound decision making looks like. How do we share the wealth and a future for a whole civilization? The ability to be present in and mindful of the head, heart, gut decision making process is so important. When these are out of balance, bad decisions get made.

Steve meditates in the mornings for thirty-three minutes, moves to get energy flowing, and then puts the creative energy to use to get through his “what matters” list. He asks “where am I going to make the most impact today?” He also takes a break in the afternoon to meditate for a few minutes.  He recommends, “Better to do five minutes a day seven days a week than two hours once a week.”

Get on the wait list for Steve’s Book - email [email protected]. See more about Steve’s work at www.optimizeintl.com or follow Steve Lishansky on YouTube.  

Remember, Mindful Matters and So Do YOU! Find more resources at www.everydaymindfulnessshow.com.