Things We Must Learn and Practice Everyday
Self-awareness is the secret artform of understanding yourself. Understanding yourself is not easy. Learning your strengths and weaknesses. Finding out what your values and beliefs while making informed decisions on the spot on the way through the maze of personal development.
Emotional intelligence is really a tricky aspect because emotions are tricky by their very nature. We learn early in life that we can use our emotions to get what we want from others. So, as we develop our emotional intelligence, we have to resist beng tricked by managing how we respond to our own emotions. This is the only way we get a firm understanding of what each emotion feels like and can understand the emotions of others. If we fail to control our own emotions, building healthy relationships and fostering effective communication will be impossible.
Critical thinking and problem-solving is one thing that is going to define your personality. What do you do when you are faced with a problem?. At first, we panic. Panic is our first response to any new situation, but we don’t have to act on it. Even when a good thing happens, we usually have a moment when we don’t know what to do. As each new situation arises, we analyze it and develop specific tools to deal with it. Each tool is a thought and should lead to you finding creative solutions. Many problems can not be solved but only present a challenge that needs to be navigated through well-informed decisions
Communication skills will help in navigating the problems that can’t be solved. Effective communication will allow you to building relationships and resolve conflicts that arise. Understanding verbal and non-verbal communication is vital for expressing yourself.
Resilience is not so much a skill, but a strength. It will grow faster if your exercise it. All you have to do is bounce back from setbacks, adapt to change, and not give up in the face of challenges. This strength is crucial for personal and professional growth. If you do not learn to overcome and adapt, you will continually be moved back to square one over and over.
Read three chapters every night before bedtime. I used to suggest one chapter, but three is better. This is create a pattern for continuous learning. You must embracing a growth mindset and stay open to learning new things. You have to learn how to learn. So that all throughout life you can continue to develop. Staying up to date in our changing world will put you miles ahead of the next guy and it will guide you to pursuing new opportunities.
Integrity and ethical behavior sound like policy driven actions. But, it is just being honesty and true. Integrity can be achieved by acting and reacting as if you are being watched. Ethical behavior changes at times, but you will know what’s ethical when you are building trust with yourself. Others will see that you respect yourself and they will follow your lead.
Developing effective time management and organizational skills shows others that you value your time and can be trusted with their time. Obviously, it will help prioritize tasks, be more productive, and achieving the goals you set for yourself. But, the most important thing is that you learn to be on time and ready.
Taking an interested in personal finance, so that you can budget, save, and invest will lead to financial stability, opportunities, and eventually to financial independence.
Empathy and Sympathy. I separate the two by telling myself that empathy usually leads to an action, while sympathy just makes me feel bad. They are both emotions. Empathy comes from (or creates) a connection to someone else and allows you to feel their emotions as your own. As you cultivate empathy and sympathy, you will also be managing your levels of compassion towards others. This will create new positive relationships, deeper understanding of others, and allow you to find your place in the community.