Russell Simmons shares: Eight ways stillness can help you achieve that success you deserve

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Turbulence – “With all the demands placed on our time and energy by the world around us, it might seem counterintuitive to think that seeking stillness, rather than picking up the pace, is the key to becoming better people, friends, citizens of the world, and business-people,” advises Russell. He is co-founder of Def Jam Recordings and Def Comedy Jam. But amid the chaos of success, meditation, calming the brain, allows you to take care of your mind, the part of your body that you use the most but probably spend the least amount of time taking care of, he writes in Success Through Stillness, “To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. And meditation is both the easiest and most effective tool at your disposal to calm down your turbulent mind.”

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Mindfulness – Long before he became a music mogul, Simmons’s childhood nickname was “Rush,” because he was always looking for the next thing – living fast, living tough and living dangerously. “Everything I did – the way I walked, talked, ate and even slept – was rushed,” writes Simmons in Success Through Stillness. But upon discovering yoga and meditation, Simmons left the partying lifestyle, learning to focus on his inner mind and forget his worries and stress. “To be able to see my thoughts come in and go out of my mind, instead of having them rush through my mind like a runaway train, was the greatest feeling,” says Simmons. This increased mindfulness also leads to greater self-knowledge, as Simmons explains: “Eventually all the distractions are going to settle down and you’ll be able to see clearly what’s inside of you.”

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Dealing with stress, annoyances, and anxiety – A lot of what keeps us from becoming truly successful and happy in this life are the little things – the annoyances and anxieties that we all deal with on a regular, if not daily, basis. By slowing down the pace of our thoughts, meditation gives our amygdala, the brain structure that guards our limbic brain, which controls our fight-or-flight responses, a chance to make more calm and measured assessments of situations. Once you start meditating, you’ll feel more balanced and less stressed out, and you’ll be able to shrug off those the insecurities and fears that always seemed to get you down before.

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Creativity and productivity are highly prized by extremely successful people, and meditation can help you access these traits in yourself. In fact, studies show that meditation leads to increased connectivity between the two hemispheres of your brain – the right brain (which promotes creativity and nonlinear, emotional thinking) and the left brain (which is where linear, logical and language-based thinking take place). Meditation can also increase clarity and focus, thereby improving the quality of your work and the rate at which you do it, as Simmons says in Success Through Stillness: “Meditation is going to let you accomplish twice as much while only putting in half the effort.”

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Being present in the moment – Finally, true success and happiness are all about being present in every moment. Meditation allows us to see and appreciate the miracles of everyday life, rather than rushing through them, by helping us restore stillness to our minds. “Remember,” says Simmons, “you always control how you react to your thoughts. Not the other way around. Don’t ever forget that you always have the ability to make a change in how you perceive and react to the world. That power is always within your grasp. You just have to learn how to harness it.” Connection, empowerment, and present-centered living is possible through meditation, and “if you let your mind and heart lead the way, you will get there at exactly the right time.”