Dangerous Ideas

Courtesy of my dear friend Kim Shepard – ask yourself how many of the ideas (home or work) you have had in the past year meet this criterion:

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”

–Oscar Wilde.

Plot Your EQ Day Chart

I often do this exercise with smaller groups I work with and am always surprised at how simple and yet powerful this is. It’s quite simple. It’s a tool to help you figure out the best time for you to make an important decision. Remember, all decisions are not made rationally (logically) and in fact, emotional decisions often trump logical/rational. Do you remember buying that item just because “you had to have it” when in fact, you already have several of them and did not really need it?

Triathlete EQ

The goal of most professional triathletes is to look for that edge that would allow them to perform at a very high level to beat the competition. Having now worked with many professional athletes from a myriad of sports, we are convinced that what they are actually looking for is to merely perform at their best when it counts the most, not necessarily to uncover the hidden secret of their swimming, biking or running. This means to either simply duplicate what in fact they have done hundreds of times in training, or better yet, beat it. Put another way, a key goal is to not allow any situation to beat them. This is especially true for amateur triathletes. In triathlons, once the race starts, they are not looking to develop new skills. What they seem to be looking for is how to use the hours invested in training and skills they already have without succumbing to the pressure of the moment.  In other words, it’s not a technical skill of the sport that is in question, it is something else. Triathlete Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a term we have coined and it is exactly what that something else is that allows you to perform at your best in a race situation. In Triathlete EQ, we will explore what happens to our bodies under the proverbial pressure, and begin to understand what it takes to be able to manage the variables which cause that pressure. [read full .pdf Triathlete EQ article]

The 2nd Conversion

This past weekend, an old friend asked me to speak to the local chapter of 100 Black Men – a group designed to help young black men succeed in the professional and entrepreneurial world. My topic was EQ and, as expected, there was some wonderful dialogue. One question that a young man asked stood out for me. It’s a concept I discussed in my first book, Clearing Your Path, back in 1995.