Success as an entrepreneur is about more than growing your business — it’s about growing as a person.

How many times have you wound up working late because you couldn’t focus? How many times have you felt yourself wearing thin, like a thread about to snap? If you’re like most entrepreneurs, probably more often than you’d like.

Meditation isn’t just for new-age flower children sitting in a yoga spa. Practicing it can set you well along the road to self-mastery. It can help make you aware of everything that’s holding you back — your fears, your failings, and your mental shortcomings.

And once you’re aware of them, you can start taking action to address them.

The Case for Meditation

"For me, meditation changed my direction as an entrepreneur," writes Entrepreneur contributor Michael Jacobs.

When I first attempted to become an entrepreneur, I failed to get multiple companies off the ground. Each try I made to start up, I would get closer and closer but eventually reach a certain point and fail. At the time, I was lost and confused. I allowed the opinions of others to affect me and, although I was not aware of it, fear had crippled my ability to take action and create the successful venture that, in my mind, I knew I could do.

"Meditation helps release stress," Jacobs continues. “It helps let go of excess thoughts and expand awareness. As you dive deeper into your meditation, you see people, events, and circumstances as they really are, not as you perceive them to be. You learn how to turn your failures into successes and how to eliminate the excess baggage in your life.”

The evidence in favor of meditation is based in more than just anecdotes. According to a study published in Consciousness and Cognition, people who meditate demonstrate:

• Better moods,

• Better verbal and nonverbal reasoning, and

• A vastly improved ability to retain and manipulate information.

As an entrepreneur, you know that the faster you can think and process information, the better-equipped you’ll be to do your job.

Have you ever laid awake at night, mind racing about your business, wishing you could just turn your brain off and get some sleep? That’s something meditation can help you with — not only will mindfulness education reduce your stress, it’ll help you take better control of your thoughts, making it easier to sleep at night.

It can help you sleep better, too. In another study, researchers found that mindfulness and meditation reduced sleep disturbances, improving sleep quality and leading to higher energy levels. And that’s with just a few weeks of practice.

On top of that, being less stressed and more energetic means you’ll be better at dealing with both competitors and difficult clients. You’ll be more patient and more mindful of what you have in common with the people you talk to.

The numbers speak for themselves, really:

• 75% of insomniacs who started a meditation program were able to fall asleep within 20 minutes of going to bed.

• The risk of heart attack of stroke in people who meditate is reduced by up to 15%.

• 60% of anxiety-prone people showed improvements after 6-9 months of meditation

• In a Detroit-based chemical plant, three years of meditation amongst staff saw productivity rise by 120%, absenteeism drop by 85%, and profit gains of 520%.

• People who meditate have their risk of cancer reduced by 55%, and the likelihood of being hospitalized for coronary disease by 87%.

Given all of the above, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that meditation is a fast-growing trend among entrepreneurs. After all, being able to close your eyes for a few minutes and then attack the day with renewed gusto definitely beats having to guzzle eight cups of coffee a day.

"Like physical exercise... while it takes up some time from your day, in the greater scheme of things, it adds time to your day by allowing you to be more efficient and productive,“ writes entrepreneur Ryan Battles.

While entrepreneurs often feel that they need to ‘go go go’ in order to be successful, taking the time out of the day to practice meditation has been a proven, effective method for increasing your productivity throughout the day.

How to Give It a Try

Sounds pretty attractive, right? It’s actually a lot easier to get started than you might expect. Here’s a bit of advice to help you get started with some mindfulness practice:

• Find a place to sit, and set a timer. You might consider a chair, a meditation cushion, or a meditation bench — whichever is most comfortable for you. Don’t worry about your hands, whether or not your eyes are closed, or how your legs are positioned. The key is comfort.

• Choose a gentle alarm, and a quiet place to meditate. You don’t want anything jarring.

• Don’t try to meditate for too long at first — ten minutes a day is more than enough to get you started.

• Focus on your breathing, but don’t think about or analyze it. Just focus on how you’re breathing. When your mind wanders, bring your focus back to your breathing. Try counting your breaths.

• Don’t get frustrated. Mindfulness and meditation take a lot of practice, so you can expect to lose focus rather often when you first get started. As long as you create time and space for meditation, you’re golden.

• Consider choosing an app to help you along — my personal favorite is Headspace.

Once you’ve gotten the hang of the basics, you can start thinking about some alternative meditation techniques.

The most important thing to remember is that there’s no wrong way to meditate. You are, after all, unique — it makes sense that the tactics you use to calm and focus will be, as well. Choose whichever technique is most effective for you, and whichever surroundings make you the most comfortable.

Sold yet?

Meditation isn’t just for hippies or yogis. In the stressful, high-octane startup world, it’s arguably essential if you want to avoid losing your head. After all, who doesn’t want to be happier, healthier, more focused, and more productive?

Now get out there and start thinking. Take control of your mind, and watch your business thrive as a result.