The Extraordinary You with Emily Elrod
Emily Elrod is the President of Workzbe, an organization dedicated to helping clients create optimal environments for people to bring their authentic selves to work. She joins Kevin Monroe to discuss what makes people extraordinary, as well as how our thoughts influence our behaviors.
Everyone’s Extra
We are all ordinary people, but what sets us apart is our “extras.” Extra is defined by Emily as a gift or calling unique to each individual. Sometimes we only recognize or identify our extras when other people point them out to us. We often undervalue them because they come so easily to us that we think of them as things everyone can do. That which you are gifted to do, you do not understand; you cannot deconstruct it and teach it to other people because you do it naturally, Kevin quotes.
The Little Things
People are hung up on the idea that your extras need to be extravagant and large to set you apart, but in reality, the cumulative effect of the little things unique to you is what brings the extra to the ordinary and transcends you to extraordinary.
The Power of Thoughts and Feelings
Thoughts trigger biochemical secretions that generate emotional responses, or feelings. The nature of these thoughts, whether positive or negative, affect the subsequent emotional response. According to Emily, 97% of our decisions are made off of feelings. We like to think we are logical in our decisions making, Kevin remarks, but almost every buying decision we have ever made has been an emotional decision, which we then use logic to justify. Emily describes her background and how she learned the importance of addressing her feelings through her experiences.
Killing the ANTs
A step to breaking bad habits and behaviors is addressing our thoughts by killing the ANTs. ANTs are Automatic Negative Thoughts, which correlate to the negativity bias instilled in all of us, Emily says. Think of your automatic negative thought as an ant you need to squash. Start by acknowledging the thought, and questioning why it is there.
Failure is Not the Antithesis of Success
Failure is a process of success, Emily argues. If you don’t fail then you won’t succeed. Most of us think that success or failure is about the final outcome, Kevin adds. Rather, failure is part of the journey to success, not its antithesis.
Kevin quotes a response he received to the question of what makes life extraordinary. “For me,” he says, “it is to continue to seek and create harmony. When I am in harmony, there are four things that are aligned: what I do; what I think; what I say; and how I feel. In those moments, things flow without a sense of agitation, tension, or stress.”
Resources
Emily Elrod on LinkedIn
Email: emily@workzbe.com
Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter
Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com
Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade