Mindfulness is not your goji berry

Back in the early 2000s, superfoods were everywhere. Juicers flew off the shelves and suddenly everyone was sprinkling seeds or berries onto whatever they were eating. At the time, I worked in a call centre where colleagues would return from lunch with a Big Mac in one hand and a tub of goji berries in the other. The berries were presented like some nutritional insurance policy – proof that a handful of antioxidants could cancel out a double cheeseburger and fries.

I can smile at it now, because I’ve done the same thing in different ways. We all like to believe a small, healthy addition will balance out the bigger picture. That same thinking, though, often shows up in how organisations use mindfulness.

The five‑minute fix that changes little

In many workplaces, mindfulness is offered like a snack. A short breathing exercise slotted between Zoom meetings. A workshop delivered once a year. An app recommended in a staff wellbeing newsletter. These things aren’t harmful; they might even bring a moment of calm, but if the culture still pushes people to sprint through 12‑hour days and wear stress as a badge of honour, the impact is shallow.

Let’s be honest, one small positive habit can’t undo a system that runs in the opposite direction. It’s like me eating kale twice a year and expecting my blood pressure to improve. What actually creates change is consistency.

Why mindfulness works differently

Mindfulness isn’t about dramatic transformations overnight. Research from the American Psychological Association shows that regular mindfulness practise can reduce stress and anxiety, improve working memory and increase focus. These effects don’t appear after one session, but through repetition. A few minutes a day, repeated most days, can reshape the way you relate to pressure and attention.

You don’t need a mountain retreat or ten silent hours a day, either; you need a routine you can sustain. It could be three minutes of noticing your breath before starting work, or pausing to reset your shoulders before sending your tenth email. What matters most is rhythm and regularity.

Awareness sparks choice

When mindfulness becomes part of your everyday life, awareness sharpens. You notice your pace before you burn out, or you hear yourself about to say ‘yes’ when you want to say ‘no’, or you catch that shallow chest breathing and shift back to a full inhale. These may seem small, but over time they compound into stronger boundaries, better sleep, healthier eating and more balanced relationships.

Mindfulness doesn’t force these changes. Instead, it opens space for you to act on what you already know supports your wellbeing.

Not a superfood, but a skillset

Superfoods can only do so much on their own; their real benefit depends on the wider choices you make. Mindfulness works the same way. As a standalone activity it can calm you for a while, but when integrated into your culture it becomes a reliable skillset: a way to manage stress, sharpen attention and build resilience.

At Incendo, this is exactly how I like to approach mindfulness with our client organisations. Not as a one‑off intervention, but as a practice that becomes part of how people work, connect and recover.

Let’s move past box‑ticking

If you want mindfulness to be more than a wellbeing add‑on, bring it into the flow of daily work, because that’s when it stops being a token gesture and starts shaping performance and wellbeing in a sustainable way.

At Incendo, I help organisations put mindfulness into practice in ways that last. If you’re ready to move beyond box‑ticking and build real wellbeing into your team’s culture, let’s talk. Contact me at justin@incendo-uk.com or here.