What Is Emotional Productivity And How Is It Changing Lives?

You owe it to the people you love.

You owe it to the people you respect.

You owe it to the people you want to help.

Of course, it’s uncomfortable.

You won’t pick all the right words. You might not even make sense for the first minute or two.

But it’s your responsibility to make sure that you push back, challenge, and voice yourself.

If you make a habit of holding back, you might not ever tell the whole truth or share what needs to be heard.

You are responsible for helping the people around you.

If you care about others, you’re not going to let them off the hook by rolling over.

And it’s this kind of work (emotional labor) that moves and changes people.

It’s this kind of work that changes peoples’ output.

It’s this kind of work that produces different results.

This is Emotional Productivity and no one else can do it for you. It’s up to you because it’s all inside of you.

2 Minute Action

In 2 minutes or less you can:

• Set up a meeting to have a difficult conversation.
• Call someone to own up and apologize.
• Write out your thoughts on paper so you’re more equipped for your upcoming conversation.
• Verbally process your thoughts by talking and rambling to a friend.

It’s hard and requires emotional labor, which no one taught us in school.

Do it anyway.

We’re all counting on you.

The Untaught Skill That Manifests Respect and Success

It’s one of the most critical skills to help you advance in any domain and they don’t teach it in school.It’s not Math, English, or Science.It’s not even Social Studies, Chem, or Business.It’s the skill that will help you negotiate with a boss.It’s the skill that will help you turn an angry customer into your biggest fan.It’s the skill that will help you regain control of your life when something awful happens.

It’s called Emotional Intelligence and it’s tricky.

EI is about reading others’ emotions, regulating your own emotions, and influencing the emotions of others.Since emotions are tied into the way we decide (it’s a deep rooted connection that requires some neuro-mumbo jumbo to explain), having high EI can make a huge difference.There are plenty of people with low EI but who are very “successful.” But understand that this is about being both successful and respected by others.You get to choose the kind of life you want to live.You can choose whatever you want.

2 Minute Action

Before you argue with someone today, start with understanding.Start each response with “I understand how you see it that way, and I appreciate you exposing that to me,” instead of “well lemme tell you what I was thinking about while you were talking.”Listen to understand.Don’t “listen to win.”

How Simple It Is To Use Neuroplasticity To Your Advantage

Remember the last time you vented?Remember the peak of frustration and energy?Maybe it was low energy and sad.Maybe you were just getting all your feelings out.

Let’s be clear about something:

Your brain is constantly making little electro-chemical connections among its cells. All day, it’s trying to get better at making those connections.Thought patterns are reflected in the brain this way—meaning that the more you complain, ruminate, or regret, the better you will be at it.Quick example:When you sit down to play piano the first time, you stink.Your cells haven’t made this circuit before.But when you do it over and over, it starts to become natural.You are literally doing something you couldn’t do before!

This is the power of neuroplasticity.

It’s a superpower.You are constantly getting better at whatever you’re doing right nowWatching TV, complaining, rehearsing, winning fake arguments in the shower, whatever!It’s up to you to control your output and habits.It’s up to you to regulate your emotions and audit your thoughts.And let’s be clear: there is a 0% return-on-investment for complaining and ruminating.You are the brain owner!Your brain and it’s mechanics are YOUR responsibility!

2 Minute Action:

When was the last time you reacted negatively to something?What would Gandhi say about that?What would the Pope or Rumi say?How else might you reframe this?Difficult people can be a growth opportunity.Difficult projects can be a learning opportunity.You have no control over the environment or what happens. You’re allowed to feel how you feel.You do have control over what you do next. You’re not allowed to act out or hurt others because of how you feel.Take 2 minutes to look again at the last time you complained about something. What can you get from this experience?If it was a crummy experience, you owe it to yourself to pull something positive out of it.