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Introduction to Week 3

Watch Craig and Richard introduce the topic for this week, improving work and study performance.
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3.6
RICHARD CHAMBERS: Research has found that we’re distracted about half the time. So half the time we’re awake, we’re not actually paying attention to what we’re doing.
11.4
CRAIG HASSED: On a good day.
12.3
RICHARD CHAMBERS: On a good day. I think that could actually be a gross underestimation. But even if we take that conservative estimate of half the time, that means half the time we’re sitting watching a lecture for an hour, we’re actually learning for half an hour, and just daydreaming and doing something else for the other half. And, of course, that has significant implications for our productivity and our performance, whether at work or at school or playing sport or at home, but also for our well-being and stress levels because we quite often end up just worrying about things or dwelling on things and making ourselves unhappy.
45.1
CRAIG HASSED: So this week, we’re going to be looking at how things like stress and distraction and focus affect performance as well as well-being. We’ll be looking, also, at the impact of things like multitasking and the importance of unitasking, being able to focus and engage on a task at a time. Also, the impact that technology can have, which is not always positive or beneficial. So, how can we be better masters of that technology rather than being totally distracted by it? And so there’ll be various topics and strategies for how to apply mindfulness in those settings.
76.9
RICHARD CHAMBERS: And in this course, we really love to teach mindfulness through experiments and practical exercises. So, we’ll encourage you to really do some of the activities and find out for yourself what the costs of multitasking are and how learning to unitask to focus on one thing at a time can benefit you.

Watch Craig and Richard introduce the topic for this week, improving work and study performance.

How we refer to work, study and learning

We refer to work and study throughout this week and the course as a whole, but we recognise that a lot of our learners are older and no longer in full-time work.

We also recognise that work doesn’t just include paid employment, but can also include volunteering, caring and working around the home. Learning can also include learning for personal and professional interest and not just at a school or university.

This week’s meditations

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This content is taken from
Monash University online course,

Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance

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This week, you’ll have the chance to practise and experiment with the Body, breath and sound and Productivity meditations.

Rather than skipping straight to these exercises now, we strongly encourage you to work through the steps preceding these meditations to help better prepare you for these practices.

Mental health disclosure

This course is not designed to be therapeutic for any particular physical or mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, psychosis and post-traumatic stress. So if you have any significant health concerns, we ask you not to discuss personal details about this on a public forum such as this, and we strongly encourage you to seek professional advice and support.

Want to keep learning?

This content is taken from Monash University online course
Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance
View Course
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