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Mindfulness has become the corporate fad du jour, a practice widely touted as a fast-track to better leadership. But we suspect that not all the benefits laid at its feet actually belong there. Our research and analysis has revealed a complicated relationship between mindfulness and executive performance—one that is important for leaders to understand as they seek to develop in their careers.

Mindfulness is a method of shifting your attention inward to observe your thoughts, feelings, and actions without interpretation or judgment. A mindfulness practice often begins simply by focusing on your breath, noticing when your mind wanders, and then bringing it back to your breath. As you strengthen your ability to concentrate, you can then shift to simply noting your inner experience without getting lost in it at any point in your day. The benefits attributed to this kind of practice range from stronger relationships with others to higher levels of leadership performance.

Performance reviews have been reportedly going extinct for quite some time. But they aren't completely in the grave yet, and maybe they shouldn't be. Despite the dread with which many employees greet their year-end evaluations,psychological studies have shown that people still generally find them useful—as long as those reviews offer a chance to discuss relevant issues, outline key objectives, and provide constructive feedback.

But for that to happen, you need to go in prepared. In fact, you may think the biggest factor in your success is how you perform throughout the year, but your manager may know less about how well you're actually performing than you may hope—meaning your annual review might count for more than you imagine. That can be good news for you, though. These are three tips, based on some fundamentals of human psychology, to help tilt the field in your favor.

Say you’re a high performer who's risen through the ranks. Now you have even bigger responsibilities. Or you're working your way toward a promotion and need to show your skills and professionalism in the best light. Then the phone call comes. The results of your medical tests weren't good. Or you suddenly have to take care of a loved one in an emergency. Or there's an unexpected financial hit that could spell catastrophe.

Whatever the situation, your life just got much more complicated. While intuitively you know that these things can happen to anyone, the anxiety of dealing with such troubling events, coupled with the pressure to continue to perform in your job, amps up the stress to DEFCON 1.

"A curveball like that requires sharpening your coping skills and expanding them so that you can deal with what’s being demanded of you," says clinical psychologist Alicia H. Clark, adjunct professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. And there is a strategic approach you can take to help you cope and perform better, even when you’re operating under extreme stress.

Emotions play an active role in almost all of our decision making. That's one reason why emotional intelligence, the ability to identify, understand, and manage those emotions, is such an invaluable skill. 

But how specifically does emotional intelligence help us with our daily tasks? Here are three tips to make sure your next presentation is emotionally intelligent:

All of us get nervous before a presentation, even if we've done it hundreds of times. So take that nervousness and turn it into something positive: enthusiasm.How do you do that exactly?

Spend those final few moments reviewing your favorite parts of the presentation. Remind yourself why you're doing this, and focus on the value you have to deliver to your listeners.

Now, take that enthusiasm and give a talk that you passionately believe in.