It’s quite incredible how emotions can change within the space of a day. It isn’t something I noticed pre-lockdown, so I assume that both the feeling of different emotions and the noticing of them has been impacted and heightened by lockdown, social distancing and working from home.
Within a day, you can feel a whole range of emotions, and they change as fast as a chameleon wondering through a rainforest. The ebb and flow from positive to negative emotion never used to happen like this, did it?
What I’ve realised is the importance of calling out these emotions and placing the self in the position of objective observer. To allow yourself to be consumed by the emotion is to risk being drawn into the rabbit hole that you can’t escape from
The literature talks about the conundrum of the self being both the observer and the observed, both managed and managing. The challenge is to separate the two to ensure you can maintain perspective
One way to achieve that is through conscious reflection of the emotions you’ve felt throughout the day. The noticing and the labelling is a helpful way to improve self awareness. Self aware leaders and managers are the best performers.