Beyond Emotional Intelligence

10Cultivating Emotionally Intelligent Habits of Mind

When it comes to identifying and working with your existing habits, beliefs, and mental models, short of working with a coach who is trained to help you sort through and cull out what may or may not be serving you well, there are at least a few methods you'll be introduced to in this chapter that will be more than enough to get you started. The invitation is for you to continue refining from there, drawing on whichever methods speak to you and/or may best fit your situation. The first approach we'll explore highlights how you can use the MindBody Map to get to the bottom of what may be keeping you stuck in a particular habit or behavior as well as how you can create the inner and outer conditions needed to shift the habit. We'll then focus on how to surface our mental models, ones that are operative on both a conscious basis and subterranean level of what you're presently aware of. The first priority is to find a journal or notebook you'll use to capture your observations and insights as you work with these methods.

Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet, I'm Hunting Habits! He-e-e-e-e!

Start by identifying a habit you'd like to work with in this and the next several exercises. It can be any habit or set of interrelated habits you engage in on a daily basis, within the context of work or home or both. It could even be a habit of mind, something that is more a function of how you habitually perceive, interpret, and act upon your perceptions. ...