What those who are successful among us constantly display, is their ability to control their emotions. The maturity of any person after all, is their capability to direct their feelings, thoughts and behaviour under dire situations such as stress. This quality is what’s most sought after in leaders.
So it begins by knowing and managing your emotions, which will translate into managing your relationships, regardless of who you are.
This is when leaders are needed to adapt to what’s known as emotional intelligence.
To adopt the scientific based patterns regarding how our emotions react, and how to manage them.
Once we understand how our mind is able to adapt, we can then become consciously aware of influencing our feelings and thinking patterns.
We can then evaluate the reality around us more clearer, make precise decisions, while improving our ability to reach our goals.
This allows us to gain greater agency, along with improving the quality of living intentionally.
How The Mind Comprehends Reality
Intuitively, what our mind feels like is a cohesive unit. What we perceive ourselves as, are rational and intentional thinkers.
But what reality shows, is the intentional part of our minds is similar to a circus ringleader of emotions and intuition.
What we have are two distinct thinking patterns in our brain.
The first is our mind on “autopilot,”
The other is our mind thinking and reacting intentionally
What the term intentional refers to, is it’s a way of thinking and comprehending about living deliberately, and therefore gaining greater command.
The Mind On Autopilot
The autopilot mind is a cognitive process. It takes place primarily in the amygdala region of the brain, which we’ve developed early in our human evolution.
What this does is guides us through our daily stresses. It helps us make snap decisions, or forces us to react to perceived fight or flight, life and death situations.
It helped us in the past to keep us alive, but this response isn’t critical in our modern everyday life, such as at the office or social situations.
What we have instead are a variety of small stresses, such as what to eat for dinner, which isn’t dangerous as when our ancestors needed to hunt for food.
Impulse On Autopilot
What the impulsive autopilot mind does however, is continues to treat them as real threats, which produces anxiety.
The result of what all this emotional turmoil and drama on a daily basis does, is punishes our mental and physical well-being.
What making snap judgments as a result of emotional intuition does, is feels real because they’re immediate and convincing. These reactions however aren’t always right.
To Think With Intention
What the intentional mind does, is expresses our rational logical thinking. It’s activated in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, an area which has developed more recently.
It instructs on how we react as modern humans, because of our recent increased interaction in larger social groups. What intent does is allows us to handle more complex mental activities.
What this includes is managing individual and group relationships, probabilistic thinking, logical reasoning.
It helps us learn new information along with recognizing patterns of thinking and behaviour.
Using The Two Thinking Patterns
When the mind’s reacting on autopilot, it doesn’t need conscious effort for it to function. It just automatically responds.
What intentional thinking requires, is deliberate effort for it to activate, which can often become mentally tiring.
But with enough motivation and training, intentional thinking can be utilized on will, by just turning it on.
This can be done during certain situations where the autopilot mind, is about to make an impulsive mistake and look foolish.
Autopilot vs Intentional Thinking
Autopilot thinking is an emotional response. It’s quick, intuitive, and based on instinct. What it doesn’t need is effort on your part, as it’s become a habit.
The majority of the reactions are the right decisions, while it’s also prone to making systematic blunders.
What intentional thinking requires is reasoning and mindfulness. What it requires is conscious intent to activate, which can drain out mental energy.
It’s used primarily when we’re learning new information or logic, and in social situations. It’s often activated once “autopilot” makes an error.
Using Autopilot Thinking
Autopilot thinking is a lot more powerful and predominant. What our emotions can often do is overwhelm our rational thinking.
What our intuition and habits does, is determines what we do during the bulk of our lives.
This is considered a good thing, as it would become extremely mentally exhausting to constantly think intentionally, regarding every action and decision we make.
Using Intentional Thinking
What intentional thinking does is cracks the whip. What it does is guides the mind to think deliberately, so it’ll progress in the right direction, steering us towards our goals.
The autopilot brain is more undisciplined, dominant and unwieldy, being extremely slow to alter thought patterns.
It will mindlessly attack perceived threats on impulse. So the key becomes to mindfully harness it so you don’t come across as an angry idiot.
What the intentional thinking brain can do, is alter the autopilot brain.
Over time, it’s intentional thinking that’s capable of altering the autonomic thinking process, feelings, and behavioural patterns.
What intention can eventually do is take charge of your life, allowing you to reach your goals.
When Intent Goes On Autopilot
What all this leads to is emotional intelligence, which is the preferred trait of leaders. Especially those who chooses to use intentional thinking, rather than autopilot thinking.
So instead of constantly allowing the autopilot brain to function, someone who has high emotional intelligence using intention will interfere.
It will habitually direct how the autopilot mind reacts, eventually making it routine.
To increase your own emotional intelligence, take the effort to mindfully track your autopilot responses, then interfere with intentional thinking.
Know what the autopilot mind is thinking and feeling, and what the behaviour patterns are.
Where it all begins, is knowing which steps you need to take by evaluating, while knowing where your emotions along with your intuition may lead you to.