Bringing Your Emotions Under Control

Our emotions can derail us. Keeping them under control is a huge part of our success as a leader. Of course, self-awareness is the key to making this happen.

Before your emotions are get the best of you, Dondi Scumaci, author of Designed For Success, recommends that we learn to ask a new set of questions:

How am I feeling?
Why am I feeling that way?
What do I need?
What am I afraid will happen?
How do I want this to turn out?
What can I do to achieve the result I need?

She writes, “The moment you begin this self-inquiry, a switch flips in your brain. You are moving from a purely emotional response to an objective-based response.”

Update:
Stephen Baum, author of What Made jack welch JACK WELCH, has a good post on his blog about “grabs.” These are instinctive responses to events by which we are emotionally hijacked by deep-seated fears embedded in us years ago. Check it out.