What are some of the key traits you must possess to become a mindful leader?
- Knows How to Regulate Mood and Emotion
- Must Be Able to Maintain Health and Energy
- Can Balance Intuition and Rational Thinking
- Have Strong Resilience Against Adversity
Simply put, mindfulness is essentially a psychological process to which an individual brings his or her focus to internal experiences occurring in the present moment. Mindful leaders are sensible of what is going on within themselves and the people that surround them. Apart from possessing the character trait of empathy and having compassion when communicating with your subordinates, here are other key traits of mindful leadership. From being resilient to bearing the capability of deciding through a blend of intuition and rationality, learn key traits to become a mindful leader.
Knows How to Regulate Mood and Emotion
Perform a self-assessment through observation and taking personality tests regularly. If you think you are incapable of regulating your emotions during critical situations, then you must subject yourself to mindful practice. Often these practices are in the form of meditation sessions that involves the process of being aware and attentive to oneself and the environment. Through learning how to control your emotions, you prevent the negative effects of suppressing emotions and lashing out at employees.
Must Be Able to Maintain Health and Energy
Many leaders commit to waking up early before the sun rises to spend an hour or two enjoying activities like reading and exercising. Give yourself the gift of time to reflect and prepare yourself for the day ahead. Apart from reflecting to have a clearer mind you must feed and exercise your body appropriately. By taking care of your health and well-being, you add value to your life.
Observe how your body works. If you are unable to find diet and exercise to adopt, seek professional help from dieticians and trainers. They should be able to help you discover what your body needs to maintain its health. In addition to maintaining an active lifestyle with an adequate diet, you obtain enough energy to approach your day. Take note, a healthy body means a healthy mind. Being a leader takes a toll on both the mind and the body.
Can Balance Intuition and Rational Thinking
While many say intuition precedes rationality, balancing both does not entail a lead and a follower. Balancing intuition and rationality depends on the kind of decision and level of crisis you are dealing with. In fast-paced and high-stakes situations wherein the decision cannot wait, allow your intuition to take over. Once you responded to a situation using your intuition, make sure to expand your thinking to avert committing errors through narrow reasoning.
Intuition is the shortcut to making sense out of factual and sensory information presented to you. As a knowledgeable, adept, and rational leader, you possess an innate sense of whether you are stepping on firm ground or quicksand. The best approach to any emerging crisis is a blend of intuition and rational thinking. Which of the two takes precedence depends on the circumstances.
Have Strong Resilience Against Adversity
Possessing a steadfast resilience trait allows you to face any adversity that emerges along the way. Resilience represents the ability to bounce back from unexpected crisis, shift or change as well as loss. Practice averting fear and adapting, this way you are more adept the second time around. Here are a few of the steps to becoming a more resilient leader.
- Practice self-care
Contrary to widespread belief, resilience is not about endurance but of recovery. Being able to recover from the complex times through a brief downtime and adequate rest. Find an avenue to make you feel grounded again. Regardless of whether you find it from certain hobbies or simply spending time with people who matter in your life, the urgent thing is you obtain the support.
- Learn how to surrender to difficult situations
Accept the reality of the situation, and you are fit to accept the outcome. The most destructive thing that you can do is put yourself in a similar situation over and over again by thinking of other ways to confront the issue. Take note; whatever you resist persists.
- Refocus to identify the possibilities
Reframe your mindset to obtain a more coherent view of the possibilities. To move past the setbacks, you must acknowledge the tremendous possibilities of it occurring again. With this, you must learn your lessons and develop more skills to detour from the road that steers you back towards the same setback.
Key Takeaway
If there is one trait in practicing mindful leadership that you should embrace, it is to be resilient. Being resilient means you recognize your ground. It requires you to pay attention to the complexities of your own previous experiences as well as a vision of the mere possibilities and finally your emotions. Resilience allows you to accept failure as much as you open your arms to success and motivation.