Applying learnings from the Women of EO into our daily drives

March is International Women’s Month. Time when women all over the world are celebrating their empowerment and achievements. Messages of encouragement, positivism, support and call to lift each other instead of pulling each other down are flooding social media.

As we all know women face a lot of challenges which is magnified by the current situation we face on our everyday commute. Mothers who need to hurry home to prepare cooked meals after work.

Executives who travel six hours to and from work just to be with their dream jobs. We can all say they are victims of the traffic situation.

Last week, I was part of the organizing team for a Women Empowerment Talk and Workshop of the Entrepreneurs Organization of the Philippines.

The event was supported by Chicdriven, Bizu, P&G, VMV Hypoallergenics, Cork Wine Bar, and Island Rose with the grand raffle provided by Karat World.

We brought to Manila, Jen Groover, a speaker that I saw in Portugal last year. An expert on emotional intelligence, a TED Talk Speaker and serial entrepreneur, Groover explains how sometimes motivation is not enough for us to achieve our dreams. Groover is also the author of the “More Method” and “What If and Why Not.”

In the morning, we also brought together four women leaders in different fields to talk about how being a women has helped them become better leaders. The panel included Senator Pia Cayetano, Angkas CEO Angeline Tham, Women’s Business Council of the Philippines President Monette Hamlin and University of Cebu Chancellor Candice Gotianuy.

In attendance were some of the countries top female entrepreneurs such as Venus Ngu of Cherry Mobile, Bea Hamlin of Team Asia, Feli Atienza, Laura Verallo de Bertotto of VMV, National Bookstore’s Xandra Padilla, Anne Pastrana of Fastcat, Loralee Soong of SOFA and Marielle Santos-Po of Cinderella.

Groover’s key teachings is to be able to quickly change your mindset. So if you are someone whose daily commutes feel like hell, let me reframe her transformational MORE METHOD teachings for a better, happier drive.

Be Mindful

Stay focused on the blessings instead of the curse of traffic. Use time in traffic to be able to listen to audiobooks for those driving and for those riding accomplish personal growth reading, videos and meditation. Have an appreciation of your jobs, family, friends and other blessings. If you focused your mind on the traffic, toxic bosses and bad drivers and feel like a victim your situation does not improve. You only get more stress and wrinkles.

Optimize your Body and Brain

Your body is your temple. With more and more information on how our eating habits shape our health, eating right, staying hydrated, active and sleeping well is important to help endure the stress of the daily commutes. If you fill your body with junk and unbalanced lifestyle, your body will be sickly and not up to the challenge.

Be Responsive versus Reactive

Our traffic situation or any situation in life can certainly test our patience. The definition of emotional intelligence is one’s ability to be aware and manage one’s emotion. Practice the “pause, reflect, reframe and re-engage” strategy to learn how to process stressful situations or people. Remember the only thing you can control in the situation is how you look at it.

Excel in all aspects of life

Our endless guilt trip is not being able to balance the different facets of our lives. Our daily commutes definitely put a strain on family, personal and community life. You can use these travel times to connect with friends or family or to finish some pending “things to do” so that your time at home is focused on what needs to be done. Sometimes I do my distressing in the car during traffic so that when i get home I’m present with my kids.

Lastly, don’t be too hard on yourself. Another key learning I had last year was from Jon Acuff who is the author of FINISH. He said to cut your goals in half, make it simple and make it fun. Happy International Women’s Month!