Harvard Emotional Intelligence Class

Chapter 74 Using Emotional Intelligence to Develop Your Career (1)
The traditional approach to defining career success has emphasized promotions and high salaries.Another way of measuring career success emphasizes psychological factors, referring to a sense of pride or personal fulfillment that comes from achieving life's most important goals.Psychological success does not exclude success in the traditional sense.In summary, career success is about feeling personally satisfied while being rewarded by the organization.Having a successful career can play an important role in self-actualization or self-fulfillment.

(Section [-] Developing a Career by Controlling Yourself

Actively use the skills described in the Emotional Intelligence Blueprint to develop your own career.At the same time, further master the following tips.

1.Develop a code of professional ethics

Developing a code of professional ethics is a great start to professional development.A values-based code of ethics will determine which actions are right or wrong, good or bad.

2.self-assessment accurately
An important strategy for career development is to have an accurate understanding of your strengths, areas for improvement, and preferences.

3.Develop professional skills and passions and build a career around them

Developing a career can start by developing useful job skills and then building your career around these areas.Passion for your work is part of professional skill development, and unless one is passionate about one's field of work, it is difficult to sustainably develop one's job skills.

4.Get excellent job performance

Good job performance is the solid foundation on which you build your career.Aside from those companies with a corporate culture of power play (flattery, nepotism), work ability remains one of the main factors for success in most companies.

5.Continue to grow through continuous learning and self-development
Continuing learning takes various forms, including formal schooling, participation in training programs and seminars, and self-study.Self-development also includes many forms of learning, but the process often emphasizes personal improvement and skill development.Improving your work habits or improving your team leadership skills are examples of self-development at work.

6.document your achievements

Keep an accurate record of what you've accomplished in your career so you'll be prepared if the company reassigns or promotes you.This achievement record is also very useful for preparing resumes. Tangible and quantifiable achievements are more useful than others' subjective impressions of your achievements.Documenting your accomplishments allows you to promote yourself without being overbearing, and to present facts when discussing work with key people in the company, so that you can let them know of your achievements without taking too much credit from the team.

7.Create a professional image

Projecting a professional image helps to develop trust and rapport in business relationships.Your dress, desk, conversation and general knowledge should give people a professional and responsible image.Using standard grammar and sentence structure can give you an advantage, since too many people speak in a very informal way.Knowledge is also important, because today's professional business people should know the external environment like the back of their hands.

8.Minimize self-defeating behaviors in career development

Procrastination at work is the premier form of self-defeating behavior that can ruin a person's career.Many other behaviors can also keep you from reaching your goals and hurt your professional growth.One way to overcome these behaviors is to solicit feedback from others on behaviors that are within your control and are damaging your professional development.

10 common forms of self-defeating behavior in career development:
(1) DELAY.

(2) Just when things are going well, mess things up again and again.

(3) Narcissism.

(4) Emotionally immature.

(5) Too many negative comments about yourself.

(6) Unrealistic expectations.

(7) Revenge mentality.

(8) Deliberately attracting the attention of others.

(9) SEEKING THRILL.

(10) Frequent absenteeism and lateness.

(Section [-] Cultivate Right Attitudes and Values
Whether you can develop good work habits and master the skills of effective time management is actually a question of understanding the value of work, and it is also a question of whether you can adopt a correct attitude towards work and time.For example, if you think that your studies or work is very important, and time is a very precious resource, then you will spontaneously develop good work habits.

If we can identify our mission, then set goals, and love what we do, it will be easier to do it.If a person has his own life mission (meaning of life), then he will often make the best use of his time to do things that are meaningful to him, and then become a fruitful person.Goals are often more specific than missions, they are aligned with the direction of the mission, and they have the same motivating effect as the mission.Committing to your goals will also encourage you to use your time wisely.

Psychologist and tennis coach Timothy Galway invented "tennis inner drama" to help tennis players better focus on the game itself.Over time, the technique of inner play spread to other sports such as skiing, and later to ordinary life and work.The basic idea behind this technique is that by removing inner barriers such as excessive self-criticism, you can dramatically improve your concentration, learning ability, and work performance.According to Galway's theory, everyone has two inner selves: Self No. 1 is critical, fearful, and self-doubting, and he will say: "Although you have almost solved the customer's problem, you are not proud of it yet." Time to brag.” A self-intimidating comment like this prevents the No. 2 Self from doing its job satisfactorily. Self 2 is able to call upon a variety of personal internal resources, both vested and potential.

Self 1 must be suppressed so that Self 2 can learn effectively and complete tasks satisfactorily without being negatively disturbed by Self 1.To keep Self 1 out of the way, you must focus on what is important about performance, not on the performance you hope to achieve.For example, when you're trying to sell your boss a great idea for improving productivity, focus on his expression.

Work not only needs to work hard, but sometimes needs to pay attention to methods and skills.People often solve problems by burying their heads in the ground instead of imaginatively looking for better solutions, and a lot of time and energy is wasted.For example, before you start searching on the Internet, it is best to think carefully about what keywords you should type in so that you can quickly find the information you need, so that you will not waste a lot of time on a bunch of useless information middle.

At work, we must pay attention to cherishing time.People who cherish their time very much often want to make good use of it.If a person thinks his time is very valuable, it is very difficult to let him chat during work hours.Committing to a goal automatically allows you to use your time wisely.

We are not computers, and we can't do multiple tasks at the same time, so don't do too many things at the same time.Many people fail to meet deadlines because they take on so much work at once that it exceeds their carrying capacity.Especially when some people who are already overwhelmed volunteer to arrange extra activities.For example, if a person who is already stressed at work accepts an invitation to a community event, his schedule will become even tighter and the number of unfinished tasks will increase.

To avoid this from happening, you have to learn to say "no" to those extra demands.If you can't skillfully say no to extra requests that interfere with your work, then you're not getting your most important work done.If your boss assigns you a new task and it exceeds your load, then you should explain to him that this new task will conflict with higher priority work and propose a corresponding solution.However, don't turn down your boss too often.Be careful and skillful when you use this method to increase personal productivity.

Although a workaholic is admirable, it is not worth learning.We should pay attention to proper rest.A person who can maintain a good working condition knows full well that overwork creates stress and burns out, which can seriously affect productivity.Proper rest and relaxation of the body keeps the mind refreshed and improves people's ability to cope with setbacks.A person becomes a workaholic if he neglects his normal need for rest, for whom not working is uncomfortable.Some workaholics are perfectionists who are never satisfied with their work and therefore never stop.Moreover, perfectionist workaholics also pay too much attention to control, and are very strict with themselves and others.

In addition to the above points, we must also pay attention to maintaining the order of our office environment.If a person's desk, office, briefcase or hard disk is very neat and orderly, although it does not necessarily mean that his thinking is also very clear, but orderly and orderly can indeed help him improve productivity, because he can concentrate more, And there is no need to spend a lot of energy and time looking for information and files that cannot be found.A focus on order serves two other purposes: order is the cornerstone of quality, and when you declutter your work area, it takes on a new look.

Reducing clutter is also a way to manage stress and simplify your life.While the highly developed material civilization improves our quality of life, it also adds a lot of complexity to our life.Therefore, learn to discard those unnecessary things.When life becomes simple, it becomes easier to control.

(Section [-] Motivate yourself

Be good at motivating yourself, strive to realize the needs of life at all levels, and finally achieve the needs of self-realization, and you will become a completely successful person.

There are two basic theories of motivation, one is Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory.Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory arranges different types of human needs in the shape of a pyramid, as shown in Figure 25-1. The bottom level is the basic physiological needs, and the top level is the self-actualization needs.According to this theory, people have an inner drive to push themselves to the top of the pyramid of needs, that is, self-actualization.Below we describe the needs of each different level in detail in a bottom-up order.

Figure 25-1: Diagram of Maslow's hierarchy of needs

1.Physiological needs refer to the most basic needs for human survival, such as the needs for food, water, shelter, and sleep.In general, most jobs adequately satisfy physiological needs.

2.Safety needs include physical safety as well as psychological and emotional safety.Many jobs feel unsafe (such as police and taxi drivers), so many people are motivated to have a safe environment.In recent years, the threat of unemployment has always felt unsafe.

3.Social needs are the needs for love and belonging.Different from the needs described above, society needs to pay attention to the interaction between people.Many people have a strong need to be part of a group, or to be accepted by others.Being accepted by your peers or colleagues is very important in school and work.Many people become unhappy if they don't have the opportunity to connect with others at work.

4.Self-esteem needs refer to people's need to be regarded as valuable by others or by themselves.Self-esteem needs, also known as ego needs, refer to the needs that people want others to think that they are capable.A job that is perceived as valuable by oneself or others satisfies people's self-esteem needs.

5.Self-actualization needs are the highest level of needs, including self-achievement needs and self-development needs.True self-actualization is achieved through the continuous pursuit of ideals, not the satisfaction of occupying a challenging position.If a person realizes himself, then he becomes what he should be.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory is a simple classification of needs.Its appearance has caused many people to seriously consider the issue of motivation for people.Its fundamental value lies in the fact that it highlights the importance of needs in the workplace.

The other is the expectation theory of motivation.

1.basic components.The expectation theory of motivation has three basic components: the expected value of success; the expected return; and the target valence.

A．High likelihood of expected success: People who believe they can accomplish tasks (effort-performance relationship) are motivated in these situations.

B．People believe that their performance will bring rewards (relationship between performance and rewards).

C．Rewards are highly personally attractive: people value rewards given to themselves (relationship between rewards and satisfaction of personal needs).

2.Basic Version of Expectation Theory

(1) Expected probability refers to the probability that the individual believes that he can complete the task correctly through hard work.An important question to ask before people try to complete a task is: "If I put my heart and soul into it, will I really be able to complete the task?" In people's mind, every action is related to its probability of success. about the expectations.Expectation is a judgment about probability, which ranges from 0 (no chance) to 200 (absolute success).Expectations then influence whether you are willing to try for the rewards.Confident people tend to have high expectations, and receiving good training can also boost an individual's confidence that they can get things done.Self-efficacy also affects expectations. If you feel that you are fully capable of completing a task, you will be highly motivated by it.Some confident and skilled skydivers deliberately delay opening their parachutes because they believe they can do so while free-falling at [-] kilometers per hour.

(2) Motivational power refers to the possibility that individuals expect to get the reward they want if they successfully complete the task.People often do something in order to get some kind of reward.Expectations of rewards also range from O (no reward even if successful) to 1 (reward if successful).For example, "As long as I show up at the office (behavior) every day for two weeks, I will get paid (reward)."

(3) Target valence refers to the attractiveness of rewards to individuals.There are many rewards for any kind of work, but each has a different valence.For example, if you make a very useful suggestion for the company to save costs, possible rewards include cash rewards, excellent job evaluations, promotions, recognition, and increased status.Many situations at work have both positive and negative valence outcomes.For example, a promotion can lead to more income and power, but it can also reduce time with family and friends, and it can also be envied by others.

In this expectation theory, valences range from -100 to +100.If the valence is +100, it means you like the reward very much.If the valence is -100, it means that you are very dissatisfied with the result, so you will try to avoid it.If the valence is 0, it means that you don't care about the outcome, so a reward with a valence of 0 has no motivating effect.

3.How motivation and competence affect job performance.Another contribution of expectation theory is to explain how motivation and ability affect job performance.As shown in Figure 25-2, people can achieve the expected work results only when they have both ability and motivation, and both are indispensable.It is very important to recognize the role of ability in this process, and not to overestimate the role of motivation in success. Don't think that you can achieve anything if you just keep trying.In reality, in order to be successful, you need to have the corresponding education, ability, means and technology.

Figure 25-2: How Incentives and Capabilities Affect Work
One way to put your knowledge of motivation to good use is to diagnose why you or others are not motivated well in a given situation: Are there opportunities to satisfy important needs?Is it expected to be successful?Do you think you can complete the task?Will expectations pay off?Do you believe that as long as you succeed, you will be rewarded accordingly?Is the return meaningful to you?
For the 7 skills of self-motivation, Figure 25-3 makes a brief summary.All of these techniques are based on theory and research about human behavior.

Figure 25-3: Self-motivation skills

1.set goals for yourself
Setting goals is very important for motivation.You can set yourself goals for the year, for the month, for the week, for the day, and even morning and afternoon goals.For example, "I'm going to get through all my emails by noon and make suggestions on how to improve the security level in my department." Setting longer-term goals, or life goals, can also help you gain momentum and push yourself to reach higher achievement.However, long-term goals must be accompanied by a matching set of specific short-term goals to be effective.

2.Look for jobs that provide intrinsic motivation
Combine that with learning about intrinsic motivation and thinking hard about yourself, and you should be able to identify jobs that you think provide you with intrinsic motivation.The next step is to find work that fully motivates you.For example, if you can find enough evidence from your own past experiences that being close to other people motivates you, you can find yourself a smaller, friendly team to work with.

(End of this chapter)