Mindful leadership is influencing from a state of presence. It is having self-awareness, self-regulation, and compassion for the needs of others. 

In today's fast-paced and ever-changing world becoming a mindful leader is more and more essential. Mindful leadership has been shown to improve job performance, relationships, resilience, job satisfaction, focus, and reduce stress.  

There are five key components to mindful leadership. 

1. Being Present. At the core of mindful leadership is being in the present moment. This is having an awareness of what is arising within and around you. When you are in the present moment your full attention is on the task at hand. This may be working on a project, talking with a colleague, sending an email, etc. The second part of this is creating a culture of presence within the organization. 

2. Emotional intelligence and regulation. There are two key parts to this. The first is to have an understanding of your emotions and the emotions of those around you. For this, it is about being attuned to your emotions and allowing yourself to experience them. The second part is being able to regulate your state in challenging and high-pressure situations. Utilizing the breath is a great way to get yourself in the right state during these situations. 

3. Building meaningful relationships. Relationships are at the core of leadership. Mindful leaders are fully engaged with the people around them and create relationships of trust and respect. A key component to this is to have compassion for the people that you lead. 

4. Sustained focus. This is being able to have a high level of focus and maintain it while working on a specific task. There are more distractions now than there ever has been. This limits you from being able to get into a flow state and achieve peak performance. When you are able to fully concentrate it improves the amount of work you can get done and the quality. 

5. Self-care. This involves prioritizing your physical, mental, and emotional health. At the core of this is focusing on the big three of physical activity, nutrition, and sleep. self-care also involves taking breaks and giving yourself time to do the things you enjoy. The last part of this is understanding how to properly prevent and manage stress in your life. 

Becoming a mindful leader is an ongoing process where you are intentional about working on the five key components. By doing this you are expanding your leadership abilities. Not only will this benefit you and your career but it will also positively impact the people around you!