Here's how you can enhance emotional intelligence in your early career through practicing mindfulness.

As a Digital & Payments Business/Risk Executive, I meditate every day. I take 10 minutes in the morning to sit and breathe. Literally that is what I do. Of course, my mind wanders and I bring it back to focus on my breathing. This practice has helped me to better manager my emotional expression. I can sense the emotions sooner and have time to decide how to react. It is amazing how only 10 minutes can impact the other 23 hours and 50 minutes of the day.

Did you know you can trick your body into calming down by controlling your breath? The 4-7-8 method, based on the pranayama yogic breath techniques, can signal your body’s fight or flight response, to relax and slow down. The 1:2 ratio between inhalation and exhalation helps signal the sympathetic nervous system (our fight or flight response) to calm down. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 7, and exhale for 8.

The way I try to remind myself to actively listen is to be conscious of bringing my focus back when it starts drifting. As humans, when someone starts sharing a story with us we try to think of ways to relate, comments or opinions we have on the subject... all while the person is still speaking. While I'm listening to someone, if I feel my mind start to come up with responses I say "calm down, pause, wait for the end of the sentence to process, pause and respond"

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Mindfulness helps you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings. By practicing mindfulness, you can better understand your emotions, which is the first step in improving your EI, and moving forward on a success path.

Meditation works for some folks. For others it might be running. Someone else might like to journal or paint, or even wash the dishes! The way to practice mindfulness is to find something you enjoy doing, that you can focus on, and free your mind of all the other thoughts running through our head. It's not a one size fits all approach, it's about connecting to yourself, understanding what drives you, and setting time aside to immerse yourself in that world, free of all the other thoughts and things happening in our worlds.

A simple but effective way to reflect is to set aside 15 minutes a day in your work calendar. Then take 2-3 situations that happened during the day and try to understand what happened, what you felt and perceived at that moment. Do the same for every other person involved. In this way, you remind yourself and others of the need for reflection. Throughout the day, you can give yourself simple reminders to strengthen your self-awareness and ask yourself two questions: "How does my body feel?" and "How does my mind feel?".

En un proyecto donde surgieron desacuerdos entre diferentes partes interesadas, apliqué la atención plena para gestionar el conflicto de manera efectiva. Mantuve la calma y enfoque mi atencion en las soluciones en lugar de reaccionar impulsivamente, pude facilitar negociaciones más productivas y llegar a compromisos satisfactorios. Otra habilidad que utilice fue pedir feedback, en esa oportunidad practiqué la atención plena para reflexionar sin juzgar mis propias acciones y emociones. Esto me permitió identificar áreas de mejora de manera más objetiva y trabajar en desarrollar mis habilidades profesionales de manera efectiva.