In a fashion similar to Western Zen’s ontology of the self, the entrepreneurial person engages in a twin project of subjectification and desubjectification, i.e. deconstructing an illusionary understanding of the self and making room for a more flexible and even foundationless identity

celebrate the ability to say ‘yes’ to the world

higher aspects are often depicted as spiritual experien

emancipatory promise of cultivating positive thinking, the joy of creating, and consciousness of the present moment.

the entrepreneurial self is a figure who is perfectly liquid

mindfulness meditation

t has become a commonplace, for example, to say that if a person thinks positively, he/she actually becomes positive, happy person.

mindfulness as a meditative practice of non-judgmental focus on the present moment

world-affirming action in everyday life. Acting in the Zen way in quotidian life is always effortless and flexible,

. Learning to foster a calm mind will help you become a better entrepreneur.

ntrepreneurial ethos, therefore, deals with idea of a person who is self-satisfied, and more specific, someone who produces her own satisfaction and happiness

Drawing from Zen Buddhism, the entrepreneurial celebration of mindfulness highlights its ability to cultivate creativity, intuitive and flexible action and learning to learn. I

oth Zen and entrepreneurial discourse in general can be traced back to a tradition of criticism of the nexus of positivist psychology and Taylorist management practices

seeks emancipation from standardizing external conduct, and organizing the creative powers of the human mind

capitalism does not only ‘repress’ in the sense of suffocating human life, but creates human reality and cultivates it productive forces

the way Zen spirituality is used in entrepreneurship education shows the inventive sweeping logic of capitalism:

person practicing mindfulness is not attached to the future nor the past, but focuses stringently on the present moment only.

Through learning to control one’s self through mindfulness meditation, an entrepreneurial person can have a deeper, healthier relation to her own affects and bodily well-being

lements from Western Zen Buddhism have also been added to limn the contours of the spiritual aspects of work.

e countercultural and at times decidedly anti-capitalist ethos of Zen Buddhism was deterritorialized and annexed to the very conditions of productive work in general economy.

e very notion of subjectivity now assumes a liquidity or ‘emptiness’, as there is seemingly nothing stable and unchanging in the ideal entrepreneur.

y practicing mindfulness, one supposedly learns not to falter into emotional reactions to surprising adversities, but retain clear-headedness and self-control

Being a holistic entrepreneur means there is no separation between your love, life, work and spirituality.

Instead of presenting a fixed set of skills

One should remain in a state of alert passivity.

self-regulation, but also as helpful in coping with an increasing uncertainty and complexity of society. They offer tools to increase person’s resilience and flexibility

goals of adult education: self-esteem, authenticity and self-realization.

ne should even let go of the very notion of trying to achieve something through mindfulness practice.

mindfulness can enable entrepreneurs to minimize errors and remain vigilant. F

the dynamics of cognitive, conative and affective constructs and meta-level self-regulating abilities are crucial in achieving entrepreneurial behavior and an entrepreneurial mindset.

This resonates well with the aforementioned ontological ramifications of spirituality in Western Zen Buddhism, where the self is decidedly empty, i.e. not fixed in its delusions of stable identity.

Entrepreneurial mindfulness discourses entail meticulous descriptions on how to calm the mind by focusing on the present moment.

self-regulation refers to an individual’s active participation in his or her own learning process

There is a large amount of self-help literature, websites, courses and self-evaluation measurement tools in which entrepreneurs and those who strive for an entrepreneurial mindset in their everyday lives are encouraged to develop themselves as persons, to seize the day, to learn to rule their thoughts and to cope with increasing uncertainty.

entrepreneurial meta-abilities

A manifesto in the self-improvement site Createapreneur mentions mindfulness as a possible way to find one’s true, creative and flexible identity through transforming the relationship a person has to his/her own body and emotions: Clean The Mind, Clear The body and Connect With Your Inner ENTREPRENEUR. How? Through yoga, healthy habits and mindfulness techniques

personal entrepreneurs’ or ‘intrapreneurs’ who act as if they were entrepreneurs in every area of their lives

iscover how they can create new energy by discovering that much of what they previously believed in was not true’

hese kind of personal entrepreneurs denote a new era of mankind ‘comprising all those people who make things happen

mindfulness is a therapeutic practice for treating experiences of stress, anxiety and pain that admits a Buddhist influence while being completely secular and resting on a Western scientific foundation

he increasing uncertainty and complexity in contemporary societies has created a demand for entrepreneurial and enterprising behavior at global, individual, societal and organizational levels

You don’t need to be an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial. You just need to cultivate the entrepreneurial attitude.

neffable experience, world affirmation, and effortless and flexible action in the present moment

e argue first that many of the values and ways of characterizing the entrepreneurial self and entrepreneurial behavior are commensurable with those depicted in the spiritual experience of Western Zen.

can also be understood as informal adult education, e.g. as entrepreneurship coaching or entrepreneurial self-education, more particularly by means of self-help literature.

entrepreneurship

possible or impossible

en ideas and practices are explicitly mobilized in entrepreneurship education as techniques to fabricate a resilient, flexible and creative adult learner.

he core of spiritual experience is expressed as Zen Buddhist meditation

his experience also conveys ultimate satisfaction and disappearance of personal problems and fears of future events,

he ultimate aim of this practice is a spiritual enlightenment experience (satori), in which one realizes the impermanence or ‘emptiness’ of all existence,

the use of Buddhism

enlightenment

Zen Buddhism as a model of finding abundance in the present moment as well as a liberation from the greed and illusion cultivated by capitalist societies

e essential part of Zen is the practice of meditation

what used to be subversive and countercultural, now became a part and parcel of the pact between the human sciences and an emerging post-industrial economy

hat seems to enable this overcoding is spiritual experience as a loose signifier of the highest faculties of human beings

n meditative experience all existence seems to be focused into the present moment:

For Watts, the core of Zen lies in the fact that wisdom can be found in the most ordinary aspects of living,

person can witness his/her own sensations, emotions and thoughts without judgment. T

For Maslow, religious experiences were ‘peak experiences’ of creative, individualist minds that shunned organized and hierarchical forms of work and religion

capitalism does not only repress people,

an attempt to harness the most general and flexible human capacities for production.

s also to slip beyond time as a measurable, chronological succession of events (

The organization of immaterial production

it produces flows of desire, autonomy and freedom

standardized and disciplined work in the Taylorist regime has been assimilated to the current ethos of organizing work in general economy.

eleuze and Guattari (1987) use the terms deterritorialization and reterritorialization. Deterritorialization functions as a withdrawal or expansion from the current system. Reterritorialization functions in the opposite way.

igher faculties’ of human existence, such as mental resilience, flexibility and creativity, have now become objects of contemporary government of work

by setting expectations, moods, opinion climates,standards of communication and cooperatio

apitalism is an inventive and productive system which ‘progressively leaves the factory and invades, like a parasite, all spheres of life and the life-world itself.

work is no longer the simple ‘production of necessities of life’ (Arendt, 1958) but rather that pivot point where the self is constructed (

he concept of a general economy refers to a stage of capitalism where subjectivity has become capital

overning life itself refers to a ‘power over mind’

context of the inherent tensions of post-industrial capitalism.

work is not seen as a constraint of freedom, but as a realm in which entrepreneurial subjects can express their autonomy and confirm their identities (

piritual experience is located neither in the body nor in the soul, nor is the experience of mindfulness traceable in conventional notions of subjectivity and time.

n contrast to Taylorist management of work, a worker and an adult learner as an affectual and cognitive being are no longer external in relation to work process.

he ‘spiritual’ is an index for a celebration of authenticity, and self-realization,

he ‘new capitalist spirit’ today deals with the strong tie between individual self-fulfilment and corporate productivity (

ork is becoming increasingly immaterial: spatially boundless and temporally endless. It is difficult to make a distinction between working time and free time. I

spiritual experience then indicates a grid of intelligibility for a holistic understanding of learning with a special sensitivity to experiences that represent the noblest aspects of all humanity

the nexus between entrepreneurial learning and spiritual experience in mindfulness

e will analyse the uses of mindfulness in recent entrepreneurial learning discourses as a case in point in discussing the role of spiritual experience in late post-industrial capitalist societies.

indfulness seeks to provide a deeply personal and authentic, yet at the same time universal basis for fashioning entrepreneurial lifelong learners.

A Westernized and psychologized form of mindfulness highlights the ability to pay non-judgmental attention to the present moment.

scourses of a self-fulfilment and flexibility are commonplace.

we analyse spiritual experience as an indicator of the inherent tensions in a so-called general economy in which the highest forms of human existence are used as a means of producing profit

aking over the ‘emancipatory’ strategies of Zen Buddhism

a universal, ‘astonishing moment of insight’,

Entrepreneurial behaviour is not simply a rational and economical means-end calculation, but, rather, a way of living in which a person renounces his/her old self and becomes a new person

apitalism works as a ‘sweeping machine’

pirituality as the source of profit,

earning and professional development should touch the ‘deeper’ or ‘higher’ recesses of human existence instead of mainly focusing on learning technical skills or attaining preset standards

No thoughts or outer obstacles ‘stick’ in the person who acts effortlessly:

own emotions and detach from those emotions

daily meditation practice

It is a significant limitation of this paper that we do not yet have empirical evidence.

Not all entrepreneurial opportunities should be pursued if, for example, they are violating basic moral precepts.

lack of compassion in the ethical decision-making could be remedied by increased regulation of emotions such as greed and aggressiveness.

There is empirical support for the relationship between mindfulness and compassion

self-compassion is a mindfulness of self-kindness (Neff, 2009), crucial for self-care

metacognition as a mediating variable between mindfulness and opportunity recognition and evaluation. Also emotional self-regulation, which is closely associated with mindfulness, may have a further positive impact on the opportunity recognition and evaluation process.

With greater mindfulness, individuals can become aware of choices that they were not aware of previously. Mindfulness can create an increased awareness of multiple perspectives by allowing the entrepreneur to look at things from others’ points of view, which creates more empathy, and in turn can lead to more compassionate and ethical decisions.

entrepreneurs who are interested in improving their opportunity recognition and evaluation ability would do well to pursue mindfulness training.

Decision-making is a critical entrepreneurial activity in opportunity recognition and evaluation, and there are suggestions that mindfulness can enhance this aspect of entrepreneurship.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

one area that deserves attention is ethical decision-making.

Mindfulness has been linked to increased self-compassion and compassion for others

present research integrates multiple research streams: the mindfulness research on the benefits of mindfulness practice for psychological health and resilience, the entrepreneurial cognition literature on the process of opportunity recognition and evaluation, and the work on compassion and entrepreneurs. Integrating these three streams of research have brought new insights into some of the intervening variables between mindfulness and opportunity recognition and evaluation. T

Improved attention, focus, and increased compassion as well as awareness of opportunities and one’s own biases all result from increased mindfulness.

Compassion is described as an awareness of suffering and a genuine desire to end that suffering

greater mindfulness would result in more creative and productive entrepreneurs who integrate ethics and sustainability into their worldview and choices

This conceptual paper takes the research on compassion that is developing in the social entrepreneurship area and extends it into the general entrepreneurship process

High levels of emotional regulation are associated with greater social competence

entrepreneurial emotion—the affect, emotions, moods, and feelings that are concurrent with or a consequence of the entrepreneurial process

Improved attention, focus, and increased creativity as well as awareness of both opportunities and one’s own biases result from increased mindfulness

intention leading to clear intention for the business, attention leading to focus and creativity, and the attitude being one of non-judgment, fostering potential opportunity recognition and recognition of biases

There is an argument that a significant aspect of the entrepreneurial labor is emotional (

Emotional self-regulation is a key component of emotional intelligence

the process of self-observing, which entails objectivity, is inherent in mindful awareness

potential mechanisms of mindfulness by adding self-management, values clarification, exposure, and cognitive, emotional, and behavioral flexibility.

a new paradigm of ethics that can be predicated on the idea of a sustainable society and that this sustainability can only be achieved by training individuals to achieve humility and personal mastery.

Emotional self-regulation is the ability to respond to the ongoing challenges of life and regulate one’s range of emotions in a way that one’s behavior is acceptable within society’s norms but also spontaneous

metacognition as a key mechanism of mindfulness also known as re-perceiving, which is described as a “significant shift in perspective” (Shapiro et al., 2006, p. 377). Perspective-taking enables us to dis-identify from thoughts and feelings in order to engage in the present moment with increased objectivity.

a mindful approach means entrepreneurs can regulate their emotions and thereby succeed in looking at the evidence, including failure, in a curious and nonjudgmental way

These feelings can help significantly in the opportunity recognition and evaluation stages. However, they need to be modulated through a process of emotional control

Greater metacognition will increase the entrepreneur’s ability to become aware of an opportunity and then to evaluate that opportunity in a way that corrects for their biases and emotional reactions.

research has established a link between self-compassion and compassion for others, psychological well-being, optimism, curiosity, and connectedness in addition to decreased anxiety, depression, rumination, and fear of failure

mindfulness enhances the pattern-recognition process

metacognition is particularly needed to deal with evolving situations where there is significant uncertainty

Metacognition is a term used to describe self-awareness and understanding of one’s own thinking. Haynie and Shepherd (2009) define metacognitive knowledge as the degree to which the individual can reflect on their own thinking process.

This ability to be present, pay attention, and avoid distractions is related to mindfulness.

the core components of mindfulness. “The Axioms” (Intention, Attention, and Attitude

“empathic witnessing,

Mindfulness enhances the metacognition of entrepreneurs, which aids in opportunity evaluation under risky conditions

Attention is thought to have a mediating role between mindfulness and self-efficacy

unduly swayed by one’s own biases

The very definition of mindfulness delineates an attitude of non-judgment and openness. By cultivating an attitude of non-judgment, we generate acceptance

When we consider the entrepreneurial process, there is a need to look at idea creation, entrepreneurial action, entrepreneurial discovery, and opportunity recognition and evaluation

: “On purpose” or intention, “Paying Attention” or attention, “In a particular way” or attitude.

Successful entrepreneurs speak of “being in the zone,” the same way that athletes and artists can be while working

Mindfulness refers to the state of actively having one’s attention on experiences occurring in the present moment without judgment. T

Empathy is defined by Rogers (1980) as one’s ability to understand another’s feelings moment to moment.

Attention, the second axiom, is at the core of mindfulness (Shapiro et al., 2006). Maintaining an attentive presence is essential to successful opportunity recognition and scanning of the environment (

Intention involves the “why” you are practicing.

the positive entrepreneurial attributes such as energy, self-confidence, need for achievement, and independence may sometimes devolve naturally into aggressiveness, narcissism, ruthlessness, and irresponsibility, all of which can lead to unethical choices by entrepreneurs

A non-judgmental, accepting attitude sets the stage to develop empathy

Through mindfulness courses, thousands of attendees have learned to focus their attention and free up mental space for creative thinking (

Mindfulness training has been shown to have many benefits. It not only reduces stress and elevates well-being (Baer, 2003), but it also increases awareness, empathy, compassion, and the ability to self-observe

. Meditation is the formal expression of mindfulness

mindfulness in business generates a more resilient and sustainable approach to quality and reliability issues in organizations

Opportunity evaluation is a challenging cognitive task for the entrepreneur (

“Mindfulness involves intentionally bringing one’s attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment,

One definition of mindfulness is “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience, moment by moment” (

Th e purpose of this conceptual paper is to integrate two previously disparate areas of research: mindfulness and the entrepreneurial process.

increased compassion will translate into more ethical decisions that involve others.

Entrepreneurs could benefit from learning how to delay decision-making while experiencing strong emotions that could influence their actions

be more open to the pain, suffering, or negative impact on others brought about by any given entrepreneurial decision.

In order to cope with this high level of uncertainty and sometimes frustration or disappointment, the entrepreneur has to regulate their emotions.

hese mechanisms, or axioms, act as the “building blocks of mindfulness”

at is the highest of allhuman goods?

these enhanced resources, once acquired, are durable, and persist long beyond the fleet-ing emotional states that generate their original acquisition.

I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepre-neurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."

high levels of passion may in fact increase persistence and aid in opportu-nity recognition

high levels of confidence, and the high degrees of positive affect with which they are associated, help entrepreneurs to develop an array of skills that contribute to their resilience and allow them to recover from failure when it occurs

These broadened perspectives (or "mindsets," as Fredrickson terms them) then assist individuals in building a wide array of personal resources, both intellectual (e.g., increased knowledge and intellectual complexity) and psychological (e.g., enhanced resilience, opti-mism, and creativity;

entrepreneurs' passion is not as crucial as has often been assumed. Being well prepared may, in fact, be more important.

How do they cope with these devastating setbacks when they occur, and bounce back to try again?

invest substantial portions of their time and energy in efforts to pursue their dreams, and if the dreams evapo-rate they may take with them large portions of the entrepreneurs' self-esteem, reputations, and personal wealth

very high levels of passion may be perceived as signs of insincerity or as efforts to introduce irrelevant and distracting elements into the situation

It is a sad fact of life that many people resist change,

there appear to be grounds for caution in terms of viewing entrepreneurial passion as a very central factor in entrepreneurs' success.

applicants can indeed easily "overdo it" in their efforts to make a good impression on interviewers

helping entrepreneurs maintain their commitment even in the face of major setbacks.

Does entrepreneurs' passion influence their success in obtaining· support (financial, human) for their ideas?

he higher the ratings of preparedness, the greater the likelihood that the participants (i.e., the executive MBA students) would invest in the company. In contrast, outward signs of passion by the presenters were not significantly related to these decisions.

the positive feelings entrepreneurs experience about their ideas and new ventures lead them to set challenging goals, to be deeply committed to them, and to work diligently to attain them. This, in turn, encourages the entrepreneurs to engage in vigorous efforts to deal with and resolve problems related to their entrepreneurial activities, to persist in these activities, and to be deeply and continuously absorbed in them. The overall result is that entrepreneurial passion, through these intervening processes, influences important out-comes ranging from opportunity recognition to efforts to attain high levels of growth and profitability.

entre-preneurial passion involves both a powerful emotional component (intense positive feelings) and important cognitive aspects

entrepreneurial passion as the "consciously accessible intense positive feelings experienced [by entrepreneurs] through engage-ment in entrepreneurial activities associated with roles that are meaningful and salient to the self-identity of the entrepreneur.

Being "upbeat" is indeed often a plus; but there appear to be clear limits to its benefits

several roles entrepre-neurs play: inventor-someone who formulates ideas for something new; founder-someone who actually launches a new venture or takes other steps to convert these ideas into something real; and developer-someone who works long and hard to make these efforts successful.

it is first essential to figure out precisely what we mean by the term entrepreneurial passion

one characteristic widely viewed as making entrepreneurs "special" is their passion-their intense positive feelings about, and com-mitment to, their activities as entrepreneurs

entrepreneurs and the new ventures they lead may be at particular risk of experiencing the detrimental effects of very high levels of dispositional positive affect.

there may be discrete limits to the beneficial effects of positive affect. Up to a point, rising levels of positive affect generate mainly positive effects, but beyond some discrete point these benefits decrease and may be replaced by detrimental outcomes.

"obsessive passion" led to rigid persistence in the task at hand-a tendency that limits individuals' ability to develop novel or creative solutions.

"there is no such thing as an unmitigated good. All positive traits, states, and experiences have costs that at high levels may begin to outweigh their benefits

high levels of such passion can sometimes reduce individuals' capacity to persist

self-regulation-the processes through which individuals direct or guide their own thinking and actions so as to achieve important goals

In sum, entrepreneurs' high levels of enthusiasm, confidence, and optimism may serve both as a source of personal strength and a source of potential danger.

high levels of positive affect-especially forms of positive affect that are high in both positive valence and activation (e.g., enthusiasm, excitement) have been found to encourage impulsiveness-the tendency to act without adequate thought, abruptly, and with little or no regard for potential nega-tive consequences

passion that is too positive or intense can limit an entrepreneur's creative problem solving ... because the entrepreneur is resistant to explor-ing alternative options, fearing that doing so may dilute ... their intense positive experience.

positive affect-especially at very high levels-may also have an important "downside."

o regulate their own thoughts and actions, and that in turn can have det-rimental effects on their capacity to meet important goals or standards.

state positive affect (i.e., positive affect produced by discrete events) and dispositional positive affect (i.e., stable tendencies to experience positive moods and emotions across time and situations).

Among the most consistently reported beneficial effects are the following: (1) increased energy, (2) enhanced cognitive flexibility, (3) increased generation of new ideas, ( 4) greater confidence and self-efficacy, (5) adoption of efficient decision-making strategies (e.g., satisficing), (6) increased use of heuristics that can reduce cognitive effort, and (7) improved ability to cope with stress and adversity

gnoring negative input can be a very dangerous tendency for entrepreneurs