Professional Documents
Culture Documents
People Don’t Do
Give up these bad habits and your natural emotional
intelligence will shine
But it’s my experience that most people don’t actually lack the
capacity for emotional intelligence. In fact, I think most people
already have a high degree of emotional intelligence.
Unfortunately, many people are held back from using their innate
emotional intelligence by a collection of bad habits that get in the
way.
1. Criticizing Others
Criticizing others is often an unconscious defense mechanism
aimed at alleviating our own insecurities.
We’re all critical sometimes. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing —
to think carefully and critically about the world around us is a vital
skill. It helps us navigate the world and our relationships in an
objective way.
Because when you stop beating yourself down with all the stress
and anxiety that comes with chronic worry, you’d be surprised
how much energy and enthusiasm returns to your life.
When you stop insisting that the world act the way you
want it to tomorrow, it becomes far easier to work with
the world you’ve got today.
“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its
sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
― Corrie Ten Boom
You must give up the choice to endlessly revisit it, no matter how
much it distracts you from your real pain — the pain of
helplessness.
Maybe, but this is still a subtle form of control. You have an idea
for what another person in your life should be or do or accomplish
and your expectation is your way of trying to make it happen.
Simply put, it means you spend time crafting stories in your head
about what other people should do. And when they inevitably fail
to live up to those standards, you reflexively compare reality to
those expectations and feel frustrated and disappointed.
The problem is, you can’t actually control other people, even for
the better. Not nearly as much as you would like, anyway. Which
means you create a constant vicious cycle of sky-high hopes and
grave disappointments and frustrations.