Article contributed by Amy Sargent "Intentional living is the deliberate effort to live with direction and meaning. It means making choices about how we use our time, energy, talents, and money." -- John C. Maxwell It's the start of yet another new year. You may have made missteps over the past months, and even have a few regrets. But as we all know, there's no going back...it's only forward movement from here. So let's talk about intentionality as we head into the new year. Intentionality, a competency of emotional intelligence, means to think and behave with purpose. It's about act ..read more

Article contributed by Amy Sargent Having a drive to achieve is an inner strength and skillset attainable by all, but not attained by all. This skill, a competency of emotional intelligence, consists of high personal and professional standards...you know, the kind which are stellar even when no one is watching. It's also about having the motivation to continually stretch toward high standards of excellence, always developing, growing and improving. How Achievement Drive Shows Up A superb story of achievement drive is that of a successful and well known woman in business, Indra Nooyi ..read more

Article contributed by Amy Sargent Do you have a hard time getting started on projects you don't know how to accomplish? You want to do it right, and you want to do it well, and because you don't know how to do either, yet, you do nothing. Then, the longer you put it off, the bigger the project seems to become. Attach to that dread and worry, and you have full blown procrastination. This procrastination then leads to action paralysis...where now the task seems impossible. Yet taking action is the precursor to a perfected product or accomplishment. In David Bayles's and Ted ..read more

“When awareness is brought to an emotion, power is brought to your life.” – Tara Meyer Robson A Global Addiction Those exciting notifications. Research shows we get a hit of dopamine -- the "happy hormone" -- every time we see that little red tag on our devices, letting us know that someone has liked something we've posted or sent us a message. And though we like that hit of this addictive, feel-good hormone, social scientists are issuing warnings of the downsides of this global addition, a fixation which impacts almost every person who owns a smart phone, regardless of demograp ..read more

Article contributed by Amy Sargent Foreword Many of us try to separate our professional lives from our personal lives, but when you work in the field of emotional intelligence, you begin to understand that we are whole beings, and in real life, compartmentalizing our emotions can be damaging. Yes, we always need to make good behavioral choices, no matter what we're feeling. But that doesn't mean suppressing or masking our emotions, like many of us have been taught. Emotional integration is a good thing, and allows us to show up with authenticity and integrity, both at work and at home. Y ..read more

Article contributed by Amy Sargent It's common these days to hear people say they are searching for purpose and meaning in an attempt to discover what they're "meant to do". To me, searching for purpose and meaning is a lot like searching for an item in the fridge and experiencing refrigerator blindness. The thing we're looking for is often right there in front of us, yet in our narrow-minded pursuit of it, it remains elusive. However, later, when we go to grab something else--changing our focus--there it is. "Service is what life is all about." -- Marian Wright Edelman It may surpri ..read more

Article contributed by Amy Sargent Once, on vacation, I was walking with our small group to dinner. I stepped out of the taxi after making our way across the island to an isolated, remote village. As we walked together toward the local eatery, the peppery aroma of something delicious being fried in cooking oil I smelled when we first arrived was quickly replaced with the pungent, earthy scent of the humid tropical forest. I saw there was quite a variety of palm trees, and became aware of how quiet it was on this side of the island. Suddenly I stopped short, and caught ..read more

Article contributed by Amy Sargent "Empathy is the most mysterious transaction that the human soul can have, and it's accessible to all of us, but we have to give ourselves the opportunity to identify, to plunge ourselves in a story where we see the world from the bottom up or through another's eyes or heart." -- Sue Monk Kidd I've heard a number of people state they are empaths, and when doing so, they are often indicating their innate capacity to understand how others are feeling. Those who can boast this skillset claim to have intuition and insight as to what emotions others ..read more

Article contributed by Amy Sargent "Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." – Andrew Carnegie You may think you are a good team player, but are you? Teamwork is a vital construct of social and emotional intelligence. Working well with others on a team has many benefits, including better problem-solving skills and increased innovation. And, it can make work simply more fun (if it's a healthy team!). This skill ..read more

“The greatest good you can do another is not just share your riches, but reveal to him his own.” -- Benjamin Franklin Article contributed by Amy Sargent If you've ever had someone pour into you to develop you into your best self, you understand how amazing that feels. To have someone who believes in you enough to take the time to help you develop and grow is a great gift. On the flip side, it can be incredible empowering and uplifting to learn to mentor others. Mentoring others is a competency of emotional intelligence, and one worth developing! Becoming a mentor can intimidate even the b ..read more