As a leader, you will inevitably face challenges, failures, and disappointments. How you respond to these setbacks can make a big difference in your performance, well-being, and influence. Mindfulness, the practice of paying attention to the present moment with openness and curiosity, can help you bounce back from setbacks as a leader. Here are some ways how:
Mindfulness can help you cultivate self-compassion, which is the ability to treat yourself with kindness and understanding when you face difficulties. Self-compassion can reduce self-criticism, shame, and stress, and increase self-confidence, resilience, and motivation. To practice self-compassion, you can acknowledge your feelings, remind yourself that you are not alone, and offer yourself some soothing words or gestures.
This is such a good topic and I love that it opens with one of my favorite mindful tools - Self- Compassion. Quoting Dr Kristin Neff, the self-compassion guru, ask yourself 'What do I need right now?' and allow the space that it creates to be kinder to yourself. It works, everytime!
Mindfulness can help you learn from feedback, which is essential for your growth and improvement as a leader. Feedback can be hard to accept, especially when it is negative or unexpected. Mindfulness can help you listen to feedback with curiosity and openness, without getting defensive or reactive. You can also use mindfulness to reflect on the feedback, identify the key points, and plan how to act on them.
Mindfulness won’t necessarily stop you from being defensive, at least not right away. What is will do is make you aware that you’re being defensive. This creates a pause whereby rather than you react you simply observe the emotion. Giving you those few seconds in which to regain composure.
Mindfulness can help you manage emotions, which can affect your decision-making, communication, and relationships as a leader. Emotions can be triggered by setbacks, such as anger, frustration, fear, or sadness. Mindfulness can help you recognize and label your emotions, without judging or suppressing them. You can also use mindfulness to regulate your emotions, by breathing deeply, relaxing your body, and choosing a constructive response.
Emotional regulation begins with recognising and identifying your emotion. The best tool to use for this is the emotional wheel as it allows you to identify your emotions at a granular level. This is a form of implicit emotional regulation. From a mindfulness perspective you then simply note the emotion as it arises. This helps stop your thoughts from spiralling. As you get your thoughts and emotions under control, this then reduces reactivity, clearing the way for more rational thinking. You won’t believe how much better you’ll feel when you do this. But don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself.
Mindfulness can help you focus on solutions, which can help you overcome challenges and achieve your goals as a leader. Solutions are the positive outcomes that you want to create, rather than the problems that you want to avoid. Mindfulness can help you shift your attention from the negative aspects of the situation to the positive possibilities. You can also use mindfulness to generate creative and innovative solutions, by brainstorming, experimenting, and collaborating.
Mindfulness can help you build resilience, which is the ability to adapt and recover from adversity as a leader. Resilience is not a fixed trait, but a skill that can be developed and strengthened. Mindfulness can help you build resilience by enhancing your self-awareness, self-regulation, optimism, and social support. You can also use mindfulness to practice gratitude, which can boost your happiness and well-being.
Regular mindful practice changes the way you participate in and reflect on adversity. As bakers will tell you, tension builds the strength in an artisan loaf and it is no different with leaders. A mindful leader is able to leverage the tension into personal and team growth, where many leaders and teams would fold under the same tension.
To practice mindfulness, you don't need to spend hours meditating or chanting. You can incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine, by paying attention to your breath, body, thoughts, feelings, and surroundings. You can also use mindfulness apps, podcasts, books, or courses to guide you. The key is to be consistent and intentional, and to notice the benefits of mindfulness for yourself and others.