Great workers use their emotions rather than let their emotions use them. They develop a framework for converting their emotions into positive energy. They then use these emotions as the engine to work towards achieving excellence.
During our lives we experience many ups and downs. We may feel happy, excited or at peace. We may also feel sad, disappointed or angry.
Bearing in mind the emotion they feel, a person can ask themselves some of the following questions.
“How can I use this emotion? How can I translate it into positive energy? How can I make it the engine for achieving excellence? How can I use it to help other people and build a positive planet?”
These were questions I was invited to explore by the mentors I met during my early work with people. One explained this in the following way.
“Emotions are the materials of life. You can use your emotions to help people or hurt people. It is up to you how you use them.
“Imagine that you had a bad time at school. You have many choices regarding how you use those feelings.
“You can get angry about school, criticise the system, work as a school counsellor, improve the educational service, create other ways to help people to develop or whatever.”
“Looking to the future, you will have lots of emotions when working with people. You can ask:
‘How can I use this emotion in a positive rather than negative way?’
“The answer you give will have consequences, both for you and other people.”
Looking back, when have you used your emotions successfully rather than let them use you? You may have been tackling a challenge, managing a transition, recovering from a setback, helping another person or whatever.
At some point you may have said: “I am going to take charge of the situation.” You then did what you could to shape the future.
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Describe a specific situation in the past when you chose to use your emotions in a positive way.
Describe the specific things you did to use your emotions in a positive way.
Describe the specific things that happened as a result of taking these steps.
Different people use different frameworks for using their emotions in a positive way. Let’s consider some examples.
Good sports coaches, for example, feel passionately about their work. But they need to apply their feelings intelligently to help people to achieve peak performance.
Such coaches tend to see themselves as educators. They often go through the following steps before giving a person feedback on their work.
Creative artists also have a choice about how they use their emotions. Such people are often highly sensitive, which has both pluses and minuses. Henri Barbusse said that such a person sometimes: “Sees too deep and too much.”
Anne Frank was somebody who used her feelings to create a testament to the appreciation of life. People will have their own favourite quotes from her diary. Here are some that are often used.
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met … I want to go on living even after my death!
Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy … Whoever is happy will make others happy … Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.
Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!
You will have your own approach to translating feelings into action. As mentioned earlier, here are some of the questions that some people use.
What are my emotions? How can I use these to help other people? How can I use them to create beauty? How can I use them to perform superb work? How can I use them to encourage both present and future generations? How can I use them to make a positive contribution to the planet?
Looking to the future, can you think of a specific situation when you want to use your emotions successfully? This could be in your personal or professional life.
You may want to perform a certain piece of work, coach a team, find solutions to a problem or whatever. How can you convert your emotions into an engine for doing superb work?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Describe a specific situation in the future when you may want to use your emotions in a positive way.
Describe the specific things you can do to use your emotions in a positive way.
Describe the specific things that may happen as a result of taking these steps.
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