In September 2019, I failed an important test—one that I really didn’t want to fail. I was crushed, mortified, and in disbelief. But from this low point, an insight emerged, and my journey of meditation began.

I’ve meditated in fear, in gratefulness, with a smile on my face, and tears running down my cheeks. But no matter what, I sat with myself every day.

Meditation isn't for everyone, but it has been a great ally for me. After four years of practice, I feel like sharing my journey and insights to support those who want to start practicing.

(Here below you can see some of the amazing places where I stopped, breathed, and listened to myself.)

The Start: From Failure to Strength

Four years ago, I was about to become a CPO at a big company for the first time. Like everyone else on the management team, I was asked to take some tests, including attitude, inclination, and logic tests. When the results came back, I was shocked. I had failed the logic test, and according to the results, I lacked strategic depth—the very thing that had gotten me to take that test to be part of the management group.

You can imagine my reaction: I was mortified. I feared that the test results would compromise my career and, obviously, I sprinkled it all with a bit of denial. Even years later, I still feel those emotions.

But with a lot of work with myself and time, I was able to talk about it, and analyze what happened. And a whole new world unlocked.

What I discovered wasn’t that my brain isn’t analytical or good at connecting the dots. I discovered that my brain doesn’t function at its best under a lot of pressure. This was something I could work with—and I did. By becoming aware of this, I could create the best conditions for my brain to perform at its best. And so I transitioned from shame and denial to opportunities and action.

The first tip I received was to create space for my brain between meetings using box-breathing. That was my first step into using meditation to gain perspective.

I believe I wouldn’t be the leader I am today without meditation helping me navigate the complexity of my own mind and cope with job-related pressure. I know I’m not alone, as many product leaders mention mindfulness alongside running as antidotes to stress.

Applying Meditation to Product Work

I have worked with mindfulness for four years now and for the past 400 days I've meditated every day for at least 10 minutes. Here’s how this practice has helped me apply gained perspective to my product work.

When You Sense a Feeling Arising, Buy Yourself Time

I think this is a situation that many will recognize: you see a Slack message or are in a meeting, you get irritated, and your hands start itching to respond immediately to get it off your mind or to-do list. So, you respond straight away, driven by emotion rather than perspective. I was, and sometimes still am, guilty of this.

But I’ve learned to change my approach. Instead of responding immediately—especially if something provokes a strong emotion—I recognize the feeling, take a walk, close the computer, or take some breaths. I find that the final answer is always better because I can understand the other person’s perspective or had time to process my thoughts.

Distance brings clarity, and most importantly not everything requires an immediate answer, so buy yourself time.

When people come to you with questions needing an "immediate answer," remember that immediate doesn’t mean right away. Give yourself at least an hour before acting.

Start from a Perspective of Curiosity

One of the first lessons in meditation is not to start with answers or preconceptions. You should sit and listen, not to respond but to understand. Sitting with myself every day has helped me develop the crucial muscle of truly listening. It makes a huge difference to start a conversation out of curiosity rather than trying to prove a point.

Meditation has taught me to sit with the uncomfortable—whether it's my own feelings or resisting the urge to respond instead of asking questions. Most importantly, it has helped me develop my EQ, an essential skill for any product person needing to understand users' and stakeholders' perspectives.

Some examples of how to apply this:

If someone says something you disagree with, whether in a meeting or in a document, ask them to provide context for their view instead of immediately sharing your opinion. If something doesn’t make sense, think: "What am I missing?"
If you sense misalignment in goals, try to understand why a particular feature, client, or goal is so important to the person. How do they think it will benefit the company in the long run?

Create Joy in Your Work

Product management is complex, constantly balancing numerous inputs and people. Having a busy mind is almost a prerequisite. But there are different types of busy minds: one driven by excitement and wants, and one driven by stress and musts.

I’ve learned that to do my work well, I need to understand my mind and listen to my energy. I started doing energy audits, noting when my energy was high and low during the day. It was similar to the activity of collecting signals to identify patterns that we are so familiar with in product management. And helped me identify what gives me energy and what drains it, kickstarting my work on rediscovering my values and making them actionable, leading to my own path to joy.

One piece of advice not often found in product books is that product excellence starts with you.

You won’t be able to deliver excellent work in the long run if you don’t find what fuels and is important to you. Take the time to follow your energy.

Learn to Be Kind to Yourself

In my experience, most product people are overachievers—passionate individuals who put a lot of energy into their work and aim to excel. This is great but comes at a cost, especially in an era where product people are often portrayed as superheroes who need to excel at everything.

Meditation taught me to be less critical of myself, my thoughts, and how I deal with them.

If you can’t keep up with the latest trend, it’s okay—you showed curiosity.
If you wanted agency but failed to get things done, it’s okay—focus on what you learned and what is within your sphere of influence.
If you feel overwhelmed, it’s okay—ask for help in prioritizing.

You are not alone, and you are doing your best. Give yourself credit for it.

Believe me, this comes from someone who has to make an effort to stop and smell the roses.

Some Concrete Tools to Start

If you’re curious to start, here are a few concrete tips:

Box breathing is probably the easiest way to start gaining perspective. Many phones have an app for it, and it only requires 2-5 minutes.
Create a routine—this is no news. If you create a habit, it’s easier to stick to it. Whether it's box breathing, taking a walk, or meditating, it helps to connect it to certain actions (beginning of the day, after lunch, when your hands itch) to make it stick.
Try different types of meditation to see what works for you: breathing, visualization, sitting in silence, or even noticing your steps when you walk. Experiment but start with something easily accessible. And you don’t have to do it every day, just remember to do it.
When you start practicing, notice how you feel after and use that as motivation for the next day.

Good luck with your journey!