Think
About How
You Think
Part One: Regarding Yourself
By Dan Coughlin
T
2015 Issue 2 |
THE
SCORE
28
o a very large degree, every business is driven by
thoughts and emotions. Thoughts and emotions at
work influence decisions, behaviors, relationships and,
ultimately, results. Consequently, it’s very important to
try to make your thoughts and emotions as effective as you can
make them.
If you want to jump into the deep end of the learning
pool on how a person’s thinking affects his or her emotions, I
recommend the following books: Learned Optimism, What You
Can Change & What You Can’t, Authentic Happiness and Flourish
by Dr. Martin Seligman; Working With Emotional Intelligence by
Dr. Daniel Goleman; and Cognitive Therapy by Dr. Aaron Beck.
That’s 1900 pages of writing by three of the most important
psychologists of the past 50 years. In addition, I recommend two
books on sports psychology called Warburton’s Winning System
by Greg Warburton and Sports, Energy, and Consciousness by a
variety of authors and edited by Dr. Eric Leskowitz. Ideas from
those books also have great application for business leaders.
Understand the E–T–E Sequence
Every day every person goes through a sequence over and
over. I call it the E–T–E Sequence. That stands for the Event–
Thought–Emotion Sequence. Here’s how it works:
Event – something happens.
Thought – you attach a certain meaning to
what happened.
Emotion – your thought creates an emotion
within you.
As simple as that sounds, it is enormously important. If you
realize your thoughts produce your emotions, you can quickly
get to the significance of what this means. If your thoughts
produce your emotions, then you can change your emotions
by changing your thoughts. In this way, you can maintain
emotional self-control, and that can make all the difference in
your performance at work.
The key is to be aware of and to accept your thoughts and
your emotions as they are right now. Then you can choose to
keep your positive thoughts and emotions (joy, gratitude, excitement, calmness, amusement, confidence, hopefulness, optimism and resilience) and to replace your negative thoughts and
emotions (worry, anxiety, fear, pessimism, doubt, hopelessness,
frustration, regret, embarrassment, shame and anger) with more
effective ones. The problem is not in having negative emotions.
You’re human. You’re going to get anxious, worried, frustrated,