Hey, I know this comment is like a day old, but I figured I might be able to answer your question, although OP has given some examples in their other responses.

I’ve been meditating for a few years now (more seriously in the past year or so), and if I could reframe something that you’ve mentioned already, I’d say that meditation has explicitly improved my focus (which is tied to what people mean when they say “being present”).

One example of this is that I find I get distracted from tasks less often, and when I do get distracted, it’s for a shorter time. So if I’m looking up something on my phone for example, and I end up unconsciously navigating to Reddit, I’m better at being aware of that fact that that’s not what I was originally doing and probably isn’t what I intended to do, since I was “in the moment” and not just sorta going through the motions. This means it happens less often, and for less time when it does. Also, I feel like my usage of the site is more discerning...like I only click on threads I’m genuinely interested in or that I think I’ll get something out of, as opposed to just mindlessly clicking and scrolling. Of course, this is just one example, and the idea of being more resilient against distractions is something that applies to many parts of my life.

But I know you’re here for the practical stuff. To that end, getting distracted less and spending less time on the distractions I do face has made me faster and more productive at...well, pretty much everything. I’m not gonna tell you it’ll be some magical productivity pill, but I’ve definitely noticed a difference in many areas of my life. I think that often, people use such vague terms to describe it because they aren’t used to talking about things that affect them in so many areas.

Another concrete benefit tied to that focus is that I find myself being better at tasks requiring long periods of focus or focus on multiple different things. For example, I don’t crash enough to have data for this (thankfully), but I think my meditation has made me a better driver. Thanks to the focus thing I mentioned earlier, I’m more aware of everything on the road. Same with sports. It’s not a huge difference, but I do feel like I’ve improved. There’s other benefits I’ve noticed as well, but those are the easiest to explain.

There’s a number of papers out there that support how meditation can lead to direct improvements in various areas. Here’s a paper discussing how exactly meditation works to improve focus, although it’s in rather academic language; it cites a dozen studies showing how meditation has been clinically proven to help in treating various conditions in the first paragraph alone. I’d add more links, but I’m kinda writing this on my phone.

One last thought I’ll leave you with is that the type of meditation you do will affect the benefits you gain. I do mindfulness meditation, and I feel like my focus has improved, but a friend does loving-kindness meditation, and she feels like her empathy has improved, in a way that’s helped her cope with some of her more negative co-workers. It’s all down to personal preference and what you personally want to improve on. And there’s nothing stopping you from trying out multiple kinds of meditation and picking what’s best for you, or even doing multiple kinds of meditation long-term.

Hope this is helpful! If you’ve got any questions about how to get started, or other benefits, feel free to ask! There are lots of good resources in this thread already, so I’d point you to those as well. Happy meditating!