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"How to Start Your Business Day On A High"
- by Alison Clark
(c) WORDS in ACTION. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.bookshaker.com
Emotional Intelligence is now recognised as essential for
effective living and working. One aspect of this is being
in charge of our feelings rather than at the mercy of them.
- Do you ever 'get out of the wrong side of the bed'?
- Do you sometimes feel that 'nothing's going to go right
today'?
- Would you like to be more in control of how you feel?
If you run your own business or work freelance, you'll know
very well how much depends on you. If you learn how to
recognise your emotional state, take responsibility for it
and choose your attitude for the day, you can turn around a
day which didn't seem promising at the start.
There are 4 steps to this:
1. Begin by connecting to how you are feeling right now.
Sometimes, our surface mood disguises a deeper emotion. We
may feel grumpy and out of sorts but if we take the time to
sit quietly or reflect as we walk the dog, it may be that we
discover we are still angry or disappointed about something
that happened yesterday. Identifying and naming the emotion
is the first vital step.
2. Recognise that the emotion is in you. We sometimes
attribute how we feel to the external circumstances be it
the weather or someone that annoys us: 'He 'makes' me feel
irritated/nervous/ inadequate.' Separate out the
circumstances from your reaction and you will find that you
have a choice about how to respond. If you're not
convinced, think of it this way. If you choose to be
cheerful, the rain may still be falling and the client
grumbling. The emotion is not in the rain or the client
but in you.
3. You are more than your mood. Moods and feelings come and
go but your core self remains. Try out the difference
between saying 'I am anxious' and 'I have some anxious
feelings'. The first identifies the entire self with the
anxiety; the second suggests that the anxiety, though
present, is not the whole story. I find that this prevents
me being overwhelmed by the feeling and affords a space to
make a choice about how I will handle it, which takes us to
step 4.
4. How do I want to feel today? It is important to
acknowledge at this point that sad feelings may be entirely
appropriate. Few of us get through life without
experiencing loss or difficulty. In such cases, we may not
be ready to 'cheer up' but we can still make a choice about
how we wish to feel: calm? accepting? Maybe we need to
express some angry or rebellious feelings before we can move
into what the day brings.
Let's assume that no major crisis has arisen. You can get
clear about the positive emotion you want to experience:
motivated? lighthearted? optimistic? hopeful? Ask yourself
what positive thoughts you can adopt and what actions you
can take to promote your desired state.
Start the day by encountering yourself (Good morning, how am
I?) in these 4 steps:
Awareness, Ownership, Detachment and Choice.
Your business will reflect the positive person you are
choosing to be and when you meet other people, you'll be
able to greet them authentically: Good morning, how are you?
Inspired by Anthony de Mello: Awareness
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Get "How to Stop Flogging a Dead Horse:
The Business Owner's Guide to Creating
Happy Endings" by Alison Clark, here...
http://www.bookshaker.com/product_info.php?products_id=128
KEYWORDS: emotional intelligence,business
owners,business,a high