How To Start Meditation - A Guide For Scrum Users

A good friend came to me the other day and told me he wanted to start meditation. His problem, he said, was that as soon as he's trying to start and to empty his mind, he starts thinking about random stuff.

I have the same issue. And I think most of us do.

You get in position, you close your eyes, and you start thinking about the fact that you should stop thinking. Then it happens for a few seconds, a few minutes maybe. And of course pretty soon, you break. It then all fall aparts and you don't even notice that you're thinking about tons of stuff.

Should You Really Empty Your Mind ?

First of all, I'm not a big fan of the idea that you need to stop thinking in order to "meditate". For me, meditation starts by thinking about simple stuff, like things that bring me joy, that make me happy. Then I think about what I'm going to do during the day, what are my goals and objectives, even the smallest ones.

So, I'm going to speak for myself here, but no I don't think you need to "stop thinking" in order to meditate. That really depends on everyone.

Using Scrum to Structure your Thoughts

If you ever worked with Scrum Methodologies, you should be familiar with the "Standup Meeting".

According to the official Scrum Guide, "The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute time-boxed event for the Development Team to synchronize activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours. This is done by inspecting the work since the last Daily Scrum and forecasting the work that could be done before the next one."

Interesting ! During the Daily Standup Meeting, you thinkg about what you did previously, and what you plan to do later today. When I think about it, this is the kind of thoughts I think about when I meditate.

So here's an idea: You don't know how to start meditation, you don't know about what to think about ? Well, let's use the 3 questions that you answer every morning during the standup meeting:

1. What did I do yesterday that helped me or others in any way ?

This is the first question you should focus on when you start your daily meditation. It will help you revigorate memories and think about the positive things you achieved.

2. What will I do today to help me or others achieve my or their goals ?

Start planning your day. Start with small bits and easy parts and continue with more difficult things to achieve. If something stresses you out and causes negative feelings, deconstruct the objective to make multiple, easier steps to reach.

3. Do I see any impediment that prevents me today, or prevented me before to reach my goals ?

This is a good way to improve yourself. Think about what you did wrong, and how you can start trying to avoid the same mistakes.

Each of these questions can be answered in a few seconds in your head. You don't need to think about it for a very long time. But if you want to really take your time, please do !

The idea here is to think about positive things, and how you can improve yourself as a personn. What are your goals and what can you achieve today ? Any simple, micro task that you can "check" during the day is a small drop of dopamine in your body that will make you happy and help you be positive.