Highly sensitive?

At my “last” company (meaning before I retired), our managers explored the team’s emotional intelligence.  Using an assessment from the book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 ©, we determined our initial score (e.g. “EQ”).  I wondered if they were sending me a message.  What if I failed the assessment, I feared.

Surprisingly my EQ score is high.  I did discover the likely foundation for my fear-of-failure from another source.  You might think it’s unusual for a career salesman.  Even so, it’s me: 

Fear of failure is actually overrated as an excuse… What people are afraid of isn’t failure.  It's blame.  Criticism. 

Seth Godin  

Though I passed the assessment it turns out I’m highly sensitive: 

Nine Signs You’re a Highly Sensitive Person:

You think deeply. When life throws you a curve-ball, you retreat deep into your shell, thinking through every aspect of what transpired before taking any action. Small things can have a big impact on you.

You’re detail-oriented. You’re as sensitive to details as you are to feelings. You see details that others miss, and you aren’t content until you’ve dotted all the i’s and crossed the t’s.

You take longer to reach decisions. Since you’re prone to dig deep beneath the surface, you tend to drag out decisions. You can’t help but try to run every possible outcome through your head.

You’re crushed by bad decisions. When you finally make a decision, and it turns out to be a poor choice, you take it much harder than most. This can create a vicious cycle that slows down your decision-making process even more.

You’re emotionally reactive. When left to your own devices, you have a knee-jerk reaction to your feelings. You also have strong reactions to what other people are going through.

You take criticism harshly. Your strong feelings and intense emotional reactions can make criticism hard to take. Though you may overreact to criticism initially, you also have the tendency to think hard about things and explore them deeply. This exploration of criticism can play out well for you in the long run.

You work well in teams. Your unique ability to take other people’s feelings into account, weigh different aspects of multifaceted decisions, and pay attention to the smaller details makes you extremely valuable in a team environment.

You have great manners. Your heightened awareness of the emotions of other people makes you highly conscientious. You pay close attention to how your behavior affects other people and have the good manners to show for it.

Open offices drive you crazy. Your sensitivity to other people, loud noises, and other stimuli makes it practically impossible for you to work effectively in an open-office environment. You’re better off in a cube or working from home. 

Dr. Travis Bradberry 

For me, attributes 1-6 are spot on; 7 is “iffy”; I’ll leave 8 for others to determine; as for 9, I actually enjoy the commotion of an open office environment.  All tallied; I’m highly sensitive. 

What about you?  Ever assessed your EQ?  Don’t be afraid, it’s a worthwhile exercise. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.