Month: June 2017

IQ is a well-known and well-understood measure of intelligence. Fewer people are familiar with EQ, or Emotional Intelligence, and that’s a shame, because EQ is often a better measure of who will be more successful and effective.

That might seem counterintuitive at first, but the more you think about it, the more sense it makes.

Intelligence would be the better measure if we lived in isolation, but at the root, we’re still extremely social creatures, and almost no one does all their work in isolation. Those who have higher EQ can work better with, and leverage the talents of others, thereby benefitting from productivity gains that a person operating purely on intellect can never hope to match.
So, what specific traits define EQ?

There are too many to name here, but below are some of the major ones:

Emotionally In Command

The individual with high emotional intelligence can seldom be baited. When the unexpected happens, he’s not the person you see flying off the handle in response, but rather, the one who closes his eyes for a moment, takes a deep breath and then methodically adjusts the course as needed.

This is not to say he is emotionless. It’s just that his emotions are never controlling him. It’s always the other way around.

Responsive, Rather Than Reacting

The emotionally intelligent individual never reacts to the unexpected by shooting from the hip or making emotionally-driven responses. Rather, this person assesses, evaluates and responds accordingly.

Again, this isn’t to say that such an individual doesn’t feel. He simply does not allow his emotions to drive his reaction, preferring to craft a cogent, logical response to whatever crisis has arisen.

Outreaching

Disagreements among friends and coworkers inevitably happen, and invariably, it is the more emotionally intelligent person who reaches out to the other party and begins to make amends. This person rebuilds bridges in the aftermath of the disagreement.

If you want to succeed, you need to become more emotionally intelligent. Start by striving to embody the three traits defined above.

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Make an early New Year’s resolution and get started now! It’s easier than you might think, and we’ll outline a super-simple trick you can use to motivate yourself to better health, starting today.

The first step in making use of this motivational trick is to recognize the simple fact that most of us don’t like to exercise. Unfortunately, proper diet and exercise together (not just one or the other) is the gateway to better health.

Where exercise is concerned, trick your brain. Instead of joining a gym, think about the things you like to do or something you might like to try. The only caveat is that there has to be some sort of physical component.
Maybe that’s golf, or frisbee, or fencing or even whitewater rafting.

Whatever it is, if it’s something you genuinely enjoy, then you’ll look forward to doing it. The exercise you get as a consequence won’t feel like exercise because you’re having fun, and since you enjoy it, you’ll be inclined to do a lot more of it.

Where diet is concerned, the big watchword here is accountability.
Make yourself accountable by writing down everything you eat during the course of the day.

Often, the simple trick of being confronted by a written record of everything you eat is sufficient to make you steer clear of at least some of the snacks you’d otherwise be enjoying.

If that’s not enough, then enlist friends. You can help hold each other accountable. You’re almost certainly not the only person in your circle of friends struggling with weight and health issues, so take advantage of that!

Finally, set and celebrate realistic milestones. Don’t think about the fact that you’re 60 pounds overweight. Focus on the first 20 and make that your initial goal. Once you’ve achieved it, enjoy an evening of celebration (a “cheat day”) and then get back to work, focusing on the next twenty pounds.

Before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to better health.

It probably comes as no great surprise that the nature of work is changing, but have you thought about exactly how it’s changing? If you haven’t, take a look at the trends outlined below. They will give you better insight into exactly how the world of work is going to change in the very near future.

1) Rise Of The Robots – Machine learning. Drones. Driverless cars. All of these are making their appearance in the workforce today, but they haven’t reached a point of saturation yet, and as such, their full impact hasn’t yet been felt – but it’s coming, and sooner than you might think.

These things are going to be enormously disruptive, and by some estimates, as many as 45 percent of the jobs in existence today will be threatened by some combination of the technologies we just mentioned. Don’t get too comfortable in your current job, because it may cease to exist well before you retire!

2) The Disappearing Corporate Ladder – This has been happening for a while now, but not all companies have fully embraced the change.

During the Industrial Era, companies grew and achieved success on the basis of a tightly defined, hierarchical structure, which we came to call the corporate ladder. If you wanted to advance, you moved upward…ever upward.

That’s increasingly less true today. Modern companies are flatter, and use a structure that looks more like a lattice than a ladder, enabling employees to cut across traditional boundaries more easily. This results in them zig-zagging their way to the top. From a practical perspective, this means wearing a great many more hats as you explore different departments and teams, burnishing your resume and skill set as you go, and making yourself a more flexible employee.

3) Digital Nomads – Right now, in the United States, there are tens of millions of “Solopreneurs,” who ply the waters of the gig economy, setting their own hours and working for themselves.

It’s a trend that’s only going to accelerate in coming years as the mainstays of traditional employment begin to disappear. You may not have a “job” at all as it is defined today. Are you ready for that? Do you have what it takes to fly solo?

Are you 100 percent satisfied with your life as it is at this moment?

Most people aren’t, and if you’re one of them, you may be feeling trapped. You may feel confined by the current boundaries of your life, and unable to see a clear way past them.

That’s not at all uncommon, and if that’s the predicament you find yourself in, then here’s a quick and easy three step plan that can help chart a course to continued personal growth and development.

Step 1 – Visualize, Then Write It Down!

Before you can grow, you need to figure out exactly how you want to grow. What do you want to do? Where do you want to be?

Try not to overshoot this immediately. Instead, set a reasonable, realistic goal for yourself. You wouldn’t want to write down that you wanted to be the world’s richest person and own a chain of tropical islands, but perhaps something such as: I want to start my own business and pay my house off in full, so I don’t have a mortgage. Both are good goals, and both are quite attainable with the proper focus!

Step 2 – Figure Out Whose Help You Need

Once you know where you want to go, an important next step is to evaluate your own skill set, and compare that against what you believe it will take to get where you want to be. If you find yourself coming up short in any skill you’ve deemed essential to the journey, find an professional who has expertise you lack, and make a plan for contacting them and gaining their assistance.

Step 3 – Itemize

Lists are your friend! Once you know the destination, and once you know who the important players are that can help you get where you want to go, start making an extremely granular, task-oriented list.

What specific things need to happen to get you to your end point? What order do they need to occur in?

Once you’ve got your list, making progress toward your goal is as simple as marching through it as quickly and efficiently as you’re able!