Bronwyn
Ritchie's
•
Financial
(corporate
and
personal)
shock
•
Relationship
breakdown
•
Personal
and/or
legal
challenges
•
Interpersonal
conflict
and
problems
• Health
crisis,
either
mental
or
physical
Here are the facts... U.S. corporations spend in excess of $10 billion dollars a year on “executive” and $300 billion a year on “general workplace” stress related physical, emotional ailments, illnesses, addictions, absenteeism, discord, dis-engagement, presentation. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization forecasts that stress will be the major cause of disability by the year 2020. The U.S. divorce rate has skyrocketed to 70% of marriages. European and Canadian marriages have a 50% divorce rate. The challenges that we face individually and collectively are written on the windows of our lives, our communities, our workplaces, our governments and our world.
These facts have an essential message. Intelligence, agility and training are critical, but they are no longer enough. A whole new world of unprecedented change, challenge, competition; and, those difficult personal, professional and business transitions, turning points and stumbling blocks that seem to be occurring more often than ever before demand a whole new focus. A focus that can help us use our strengths and transform changes, challenges and stressors into the awareness, insight, EQ/EI edge that can help us win the race against wolves.
Using constructive discontent to win the race. Constructive discontent is what Irene Becker calls your ability to feel something difficult (even painful), while taking on the role of the participant observer. The participant observer who can step out of the immediate situation, watch the emotions, let them pass, and re-focus on your true goal or objective. Learning to be the participant observer in your life, in your relationships in your career is not only useful it is one of the most powerful tools in winning the race against wolves. It is a critical skill that can be learned, and it can change your life.
Part, but not all, of constructive discontent is learning to re-frame. There is a body of research supporting the power of re-framing, but building constructive discontent is more than re-framing. Constructive discontent is also learning to use what you are feeling and thinking to become the participant observer, to be able to witness what you are feeling and thinking, let difficult feelings pass, re-focus on your true goals and objectives.
Why is building constructive discontent so important? Because our greatest strength, our best solutions, and the engagement of our true potential means using our strengths as well as the stressors, changes, challenges we face to develop new ideas, new solutions, new behavior and communication patterns that take us forward. Forward to building the emotional intelligence edge, the ability to understand and manage our emotions, understand the emotions of others, and use what we are feeling and thinking to inspire, motivate and engage the best in ourselves and others.