In a previous article, I introduced mindfulness training as a largely unrecognized, but highly valuable, form of skill training for network marketers. This follow-up article outlines four specific ways that network marketers can increase their success by developing and applying this intrinsic internal resource.

Mindfulness can be defined very simply as "being aware, moment to moment, of whatever you're experiencing, without judging it." This deceptively simple definition fails to convey adequately, however, both how challenging this can be, on the one hand, and its enormous potential power on the other.

Mindfulness is an intrinsic and basic human capacity, much like speech or musical expression. Although humans have applied it in endless ways and to varying degrees throughout their history, its cultivation through intense formal training was first introduced by the Buddha about 2500 years ago as a key way of promoting spiritual development. Since then, it has been cultivated and practiced very intensively by hundreds of millions of people devoted to spiritual development--most commonly within the context of formal meditation. It has also been highly emphasized in many of the martial arts.

Although mindfulness is of crucial importance in ANY activity demanding a high level of sustained, skillful performance, such as with professional athletes or musicians, it has rarely been taught as a separate discipline in these areas. Recently, however, there has been an exception to this general rule: In the 1990's, Phil Jackson introduced members of the Chicago Bulls basketball team to formal mindfulness training in coaching them to 6 NBA championships.

Over the past 25 years, the practical application of mindfulness training has become increasingly common. Courses in mindfulness-based stress reduction, for example, have proliferated, and mindfulness practice has been found to be an effective therapeutic intervention for people suffering from chronic pain, depression, anxiety, and personality disorders.

In general, mindfulness has at least four major and highly important benefits:

1) It enhances the level of satisfaction gained from any experience that is intrinsically pleasurable. For example, a portion of chocolate eaten very mindfully will bring far more delight than if it's consumed mindlessly--that is with diminished conscious awareness of the extremely rich sensory experience it entails.

2) It enhances one's ability to cope with any experience that is intrinsically painful or unpleasant. For example, when people with chronic pain learn to relate to the pain mindfully, it commonly diminishes, or--at the very least-becomes much easier to live with.

3) It enhances the performance of any other skill. So, for example, a highly skilled musician will perform most effectively to the degree s/he is mindful; the same is true for a highly skilled figure-skater, marathon runner, airline pilot, mountain climber, etc. In other words, the more fully and consistently present we are while engaging in ANY activity, the less likely it is that we will make mistakes.

4) It provides a method, par excellence, for overcoming negative mental and behavioral habits of all kinds. By definition, to whatever degree we are mindful, we are not "running on automatic" and, therefore, are much less likely to engage in unskillful habits of all kinds.

So, with this as background, here are four correspondingly basic ways that network marketers can apply this remarkable meta-skill to enhance their levels of success greatly.

1. By relating more skillfully and effectively to other people, which is of utmost importance in this industry. Other factors equal, the more mindfully present we are while interacting with others, the greater will be the level of rapport that we are likely to develop with them. This is a necessary condition for winning their trust in increasing their receptivity to whatever we have to offer to them.

2) In coping with the many challenges and adversities that are intrinsic to this industry. By consciously shifting into mindfulness, any unpleasant task--such as, for example, calling large numbers of leads--becomes incredibly easier. In carrying out such a task mindfully, it becomes what can be called an exercise in "non-doing;" that is, by staying mindfully aware of the moment-to-moment PROCESS in making each call--instead of focusing on its hoped-for OUTCOME, cold calling becomes just one more way to practice being fully present in the moment. You might be amazed at how effortless "cold calls" can become when you become skilled in "non-doing" them.

3) By providing the specific means of actually implementing Winston Churchill's famous dictum: "Never, ever, ever give up!" One of the most crucially important determinants of success in network marketing--especially in the early stages of developing a business--is a very high level of enduring commitment and persistence--a capacity and willingness to hang in there through endless disappointments and frustrations until success is finally achieved.

Mindfulness is absolutely invaluable in this regard. It provides the specific means not only of living "one day at a time," but of actually living "one breath at a time." To the degree that you learn "to be aware moment to moment of whatever you're experiencing, without judging it," you're less likely to get caught up in the endless automatic ruminations about how awful it is. Whatever unpleasantness you are experiencing will then tend to become much more bearable. It is in this regard that mindfulness has often been referred to as "long enduring mind."

4) On the other side of this coin, mindfulness is equally important in maintaining the highly positive attitude that is widely recognized in the network marketing industry as being of such crucial importance to success.

In summary, then, mindfulness is a subtle, but very powerful, specific skill-a very fine-grained method for cultivating a broad spectrum of positive qualities all of which are of key importance to success in network marketing.

Two of the best resources for learning more about mindfulness are: 1) Full Catastrophe Living by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn; and 2) Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana.