Mindful in 5 Podcast

Season 6 Kickoff!

• Spiwe Jefferson • Season 6 • Episode 180

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We're celebrating! Not only are we launching Season 6, but also the 180th episode! Here to equip you with mindfulness strategies to help you thrive, starting with just 5 minutes a day.

Ever wonder if the relentless climb up the career ladder was supposed to feel this draining? You're not alone. The 180th episode of Mindful in 5 launches Season 6 with a powerful reset for professionals caught in the achievement-without-fulfillment trap.

This season introduces a framework based on the "zone of proximal development" – that sweet spot between what you can do alone and what seems impossible. We'll guide you through three developmental phases: 

  • Dark (when overwhelm threatens to consume you), 
  • Dawn (when you're ready to grow but need guidance), and 
  • Day (when you're maximizing your thriving potential). 

Each phase offers targeted five-minute mindfulness practices that transform how you show up professionally without adding to your overwhelming to-do list.


What makes this approach different? It's designed specifically for high-performers who need practical, science-backed techniques that work in real-world environments. 

The stakes couldn't be higher. You can continue feeling like work is happening to you, or you can take control of how you show up. The choice is yours. Join thousands of professionals who've discovered that starting with just five minutes of daily practice can create measurable differences in peace, focus, and leadership presence. 

Your journey to becoming a mindful ninja starts now – because you're not just building a career, you're building a life worth living. Ready to elevate your work and empower your life? Let's make this season transformational.


More Links and Resources

Spiwe Jefferson:

Welcome to Mindful in 5, where busy professionals find your peaceful oasis to thrive in complex work environments. I am Spiwe Jefferson, attorney, certified mindfulness practitioner and author of the Mindful in 5 book series. Here to guide you to a clearer, softer and more supported life. Join me and your fellow mindful ninjas as we explore science-backed mindfulness strategies for successful leaders that you can implement, starting with just five minutes a day. Elevate your work, empower your life, work higher, live stronger. Let's go!

Spiwe Jefferson:

Well, hi there and welcome to the Mindful in 5, Season 6, Kickoff. Yes, this is the podcast where we explore five-minute mindfulness for busy professionals just like you, and you know what else we're celebrating today. This is our 180th episode.

Spiwe Jefferson:

Yes, and speaking of you, because you are our favorite topic, when did you? Yes, to ask yourself if your daily grind is actually leading you toward the life you want? Think about whether any of this sounds like your life. You wake up each Monday feeling like you're running on a hamster wheel. The emails never stop, the meetings multiply and somewhere between your commute and your evening collapse. You wonder if this is what success is supposed to feel like. You're achieving, but you're not thriving, but you're not thriving. In fact, you know what? Here's the thing. This is actually why I started the Mindful in 5 body of work, because I had one too many lawyers. I'm a lawyer, so I talk to lots of lawyers. One too many lawyers, one too many vice presidents, one too many senior leaders say gosh. I thought I spent my whole career trying to get to this stage. And now that I'm here I'm looking around like, wow, this is super stressful. Is this all there is? I haven't seen my kids in forever. My husband is grumbling, or my wife, my spouse, my partner is grumbling because they never see me. I don't have time to do the things that feed me and I'm asking myself is this all there is? Because all I see in front of me is a whole lot of stress and a lot of pressure.

Spiwe Jefferson:

So, enter Mindful in 5. Because in my head I kept thinking I think I have something that can help and I was casting about and I was seeing lots of mindfulness content out there in the general public, but I wasn't seeing the kind of content that I wanted to create for busy professionals, to really help you thrive, by not just harnessing the power of mindfulness meditation but also applying it very specifically to the workplace. And so, as we launch season six. I am excited that this is exactly the kind of stuff that we are going to dive into this season in a sharper and more focused way. In a sharper and more focused way, and we're really going to look for ways to help you cope better and to help you not just survive your daily grind, but to thrive and, ideally, not even have it feel like it's a grind. How nice would that be, right? Yes, so let's take this opportunity as we come into the new season of Mindful in 5. Let's take this as an opportunity for you to reset your purpose. For the past five seasons, I have walked alongside thousands of professionals who felt exactly like this. They thought mindfulness was just another item on their to-do list until they discovered it could be their competitive advantage. So here is your plan. So here is your plan this season we are diving deep into the zone of proximal development. You might have also heard it referred to as the learning zone. It is a concept from educational psychology that identifies the sweet spot between what you can do alone and what seems impossible. In fact, you may also remember that I have written, as I record this, before mindful, in five books that have been published and are available on Amazon. You can find them under my name or you can find them if you look for Mindful in 5. But the Mindful in 5 books are actually patterned loosely after this concept in what I call in the books three seasons.

Spiwe Jefferson:

Dark season this is when you are overwhelmed. This is when you are overwhelmed, stressed or facing challenges. We will, over the course of the next 38 weeks or so between now and Labor Day 2026, we will explore techniques that help you survive and find stability even in your dark season. The next season is called dawn. This is when you're ready to grow but need guidance. Maybe you have a new role, Maybe you got a promotion, Maybe you have a new job, Maybe you have something new that's happened in your household that you have to manage alongside the job, and these practices help you build confidence and develop new skills. Then we have the day season, when you are thriving and want to maximize your potential, and sometimes in the day season, you might actually feel a little bit bored, like I totally got this. Maybe I need a new adventure, but these techniques help you lead, innovate and inspire others. Even so, what does success look like? Well, between now and the end of Season 6, you will have a toolkit of five-minute techniques that transform your workday from chaotic to centered. You will learn constructive ways to respond instead of react, lead with clarity instead of confusion and end each day knowing you showed up as your best self.

Spiwe Jefferson:

This kind of transformation will not happen automatically. It will take your commitment to giving yourself daily time ideally starting with just five minutes a day to go within, center yourself and be fully present with yourself. We will discuss how to do this throughout the season. This season also includes powerful interviews with guests who will share different perspectives to help you along your way. We will start with Latanya Langley. She is Chief People Officer, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Edgewell Personal Care. I could not think of a better person to kick off our season of episodes where I'm encouraging you to make time to take care of yourself so that you will have enough to pour into others and to pour into all of the roles and the hats that you have to wear every day. Latanya will be exploring how your inner voice shapes your outer success how your Inner Voice Shapes your Outer Success. I think this pair of interviews is really going to be enlightening for you, and it is our intention and our hope that you find some things that you take away from this conversation to really change your life and how you approach that inner stillness and just allowing yourself to be guided by that inner voice.

Spiwe Jefferson:

I have other special guests lined up for the season. I am selective about who I have on this show, and so stay tuned because I think they will help you think broadly about how to tackle the everyday challenges that you encounter in life. So what is at stake for you in season six? Well, you can certainly continue feeling like work is happening to you or you can take control of how you show up. The choice is yours and the power is yours, always yours. So your next steps after this episode commit to giving yourself time for self-care and self-reflection with us and your fellow mindful ninjas and thriving leaders over the next 38 weeks. I promise you that if you get into the habit and you actually learn to center yourself effectively, all the science demonstrates that you will experience a difference in the peace, clarity and focus that comes, the lower stress levels.

Spiwe Jefferson:

This isn't just BUSAing it and it's not just because I have been practicing mindfulness meditation for over two decades and I can personally vouch for its effectiveness, but there is a growing body of scientific data that proves it out, and this is, frankly, exactly why so many organizations are plugging mindfulness into their wellness curricula, because so many of us know and understand its true value. You are not just building a career, you are building a life. The point of mindfulness, candidly, is not so that you get better at mindfulness, but to elevate your work and empower your life. If you want to join thousands of professionals who have joined this journey, visit spiwejefferson. com to send me a note to book me for employee mindfulness training that transforms your entire team, or grab one of my books to deepen your practice. In fact, the books that you can find on Amazon, they come in two flavors. There's what I call the classic edition. It's got a black cover, it's called Mindful in Five Meditations for people with no time, and it has five-day, five-minute meditations that will last you for one year over the dawn, dark and day periods.

Spiwe Jefferson:

And rather than just lecturing you about how to do it, we use fictitious characters that are having real life issues like divorce and financial issues and family drama and empty nester syndrome. And how are we going to make this marriage work? Do we even like each other? I don't know, Because those are the things that happen to us in our lives. Because those are the things that happen to us in our lives, and so how do you apply mindfulness meditation directly to those kinds of situations that we all go through? And so pick up your copy or send me a note.

Spiwe Jefferson:

I'll be happy to come and train your team, as I have trained a lot of other teams. Let's grow together. Let's do this together for the next season six. So that is where I will stop for today. I'm so delighted that you are here on this journey. I love you and I hope that you, too, become a thriving leader over the course of the next 38 weeks, and if you are a thriving leader already, I hope that Mindful in 5 can come alongside you and become your partner in helping you deepen your optimism, your peace, your focus all the things that we want more of in our lives. Until next week, this is Spiwe saying be mindful and be well.

James@DiscovertheVoice:

Thank you for listening to Mindful in 5. If you enjoyed it, share it with a friend, follow and rate it on your favorite podcast platform. Pick up your signed copy of the book and journal from spiwejefferson. com, or unsigned copies from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or wherever you get your books. Visit spiwejefferson. com to download sample chapters of the book, watch videos and become a mindful ninja. Join us on the LinkedIn Mindful in 5 group and share your thoughts. Until next time, be mindful and be well.