Now with Fenerbahce, Mourinho worked with Essien at Chelsea where they won multiple titles.
Essien is now an assistant coach with FC Nordsjaelland.
He told BBC Sport: "I just woke up one day and thought, 'Let me start doing something'.
"I started coaching so I could learn how it is to be a coach. Now I talk to a few of (my former managers). Just normal talk - nothing tactical.
"I had some great, great managers that I was lucky to work under. I learned a few things from Jose and from Ancelotti - his calmness and how he manages his players, the way he tried to put his arms around his players.
"Now I understand a bit more why Jose would get angry."
Essien also said: "I’m not thinking about being a head coach. Not yet.
"But when I get there, I will develop my style of play around the FCN model of what we’re doing here. I have a few more years to go. Let’s see. Maybe I will get there.
"When I was playing, I never thought I would jump into this journey. But coming to the end of my career, I was thinking one day, 'I’ve done football my whole life and I think that’s what I do best. I should start doing something just to keep my routine going.'
"I also wanted to get the ideas and strategies of how to be a coach, to learn how to be a coach. That’s how it all came about.
"And also because I love the game. I’m always going to be in and around the game.
"I try and do my best to help the young boys coming up so they can do something with their careers.
"This generation, sometimes they can be quite difficult. Sometimes they think they know the world, but actually they don’t know anything.
"To have me around, it’s easy for them to come and ask me a few questions and I give them a few guidelines and some advice."
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