Are you tempted to run away from that task you have to do, and it is extremely boring? You are probably being attacked by your "Elusive Saboteur". And do you prefer to talk about data to your employees instead of inspiring them? Perhaps he is in the grip of the "Hyper-Rational Saboteur." Every time you achieve something new do you have everyone around you saying “wow” and it seems to you that it's not enough? Maybe the “Hyper-Achiever Saboteur” is out there. Do you feel that the work you do is never perfect, and it costs you hours of sleep to do those final details? Perhaps the “Perfectionist Saboteur” is at work.
There are 10 “saboteurs” responsible for lowering our performance. Saboteurs are inner voices that tell us some lies, pretending to have good intentions. Research by Shirzad Chamine, creator of Positive Intelligence® and a professor at Standford for 14 years, shows that only 20% of people reach anything close to their true potential, due to the destructive power of their saboteurs.
How many times do you remember that you are an imperfect and fallible human being, and that every mistake or failure can be transformed into a great learning experience? This is the “Wise Self-Compassion” thought. Do you usually feel happy when others are successful? If so, it's because you have well-developed "Empathy Sage" thinking. And do you know what's important to you? So it's because there's the "Sage who helps you Navigate".
There are 5 wise thoughts that help us reach our potential. It is by developing the voice of the “Sage” that we get what we want and are happy.
The idea is to focus on the raging war inside your mind, between the voices of the “Saboteurs” who destroy you and the “Sages” who make you grow. Your job is to train yourself to control Saboteur thoughts and reprogram your mind to focus on Wise thoughts.
With this work, he significantly develops his emotional intelligence and manages to perform his duties as a Leader much better. Indeed, he starts to share the purpose in a more inspiring way, manages to gain the trust of others, manages conflicts in a healthier way and manages to increase the autonomy and accountability of his team.
To develop these emotional skills, you need to train every day, until it becomes a habit. That's why we use Shirzard Chamine's Positive Intelligence® platform to do mental fitness. With this training, 9 out of 10 people use their emotional energy more efficiently, improving teamwork, empathy and other emotional intelligence skills.
It takes a little practice, but challenging your saboteur thoughts and bringing out your sage's best qualities can turn you into the leader you've always wanted to be.
Isabel Freire de Andrade – General Director of Bright Concept
(Translated from the original Portuguese version)