EQ vs. IQ
EQ vs. IQ
I did quite a bit of research about the importance of emotional intelligence (EI) for my dissertation. I found that higher levels of EI did have a correlation with sales performance. This article brings up an interesting discussion about emotional quotient or EQ and IQ. It is often stated that companies are now looking at EQ over IQ. Mayer et al may not have stated this directly . . .however, many people do believe that EQ is extremely important. I still have some reservations about how accurately we can measure EQ, considering that the instruments are require self-assessment. For more information about this topic, check out the link below.
5 Things You Should Know About Personality in the Workplace
Five Things You Should Know About Personality In The Workplace
#1 Taking personality tests like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) can be a helpful in discovering how to get along with people at work. Conflicts may arise due to a lack of understanding of personality preferences. When people understand why others act the way they do, they are more likely to accept one another.
#2 Learn the differences between how people process information. If you take the MBTI, you will learn that there is a big difference between introverts and extroverts. An introvert tends to think before they speak. An extrovert tends think as they speak. Frustrations often occur when an extrovert thinks an introvert responds too slowly or when an introvert thinks an extrovert never stops talking. By understanding personality preferences, these conflicts can be avoided. If you are an extrovert, try to give introverts time to answer questions. Don’t answer for them, assuming they didn’t understand the question or didn’t hear you. If you are an introvert, try to realize that an extrovert expects you to answer quickly. Give them something to tide them over until you have an answer. Say something like, “that is interesting . . . let me think about that for a moment.”
#3 Your emotional intelligence quotient or EQ can sometimes be more important than IQ. Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand your own emotions as well as those in others. Many organizations are looking for emotionally intelligent leaders. There are tests like the EQ-i that can measure your emotional intelligence quotient.
#4 It is important to consider your “concern for impact”. This basically means how much you care about what others think of you. Some companies even rate people on this as part of the annual performance review. If you aren’t paying attention to people’s reactions to what you say and do, you need to start noticing.
#5 Know when to keep your mouth shut. Many office conflicts come from people not knowing when to shut up. People know it isn’t a good idea to talk about others behind their back but it still happens all of the time. If you do this . . . it WILL come back to bite you later.
Top 10 Things Prospective Online College Students Should Be Doing
Top Ten Things the Prospective Online College Student Should Be Doing
#1 Research accreditation of prospective online universities – Just because a college is online, does not mean it is an accredited university. Be sure that the school has received accreditation from one of the 6 regional accrediting organizations in the US.
#2 Research financing options available – There are still employers offering to pay for employee education. There are many old and new loan programs available for students. You might want to consider military options or grants as well. It might be wise to check out trends in financing through collegeboard.com.
#3 Talk to your school counselor – Your counselor is one of the best resources you will have during your online experience. They can offer advice about possible degree and career choices. They can help you set up your schedules and answer many of the questions you may have about online learning.
#4 Brush up on your writing skills – If you have not been in school for a while, it is important to be sure you have strong spelling and grammar skills as well as a good understanding of paragraph and essay structure.
#5 Research APA – Most online universities require that students submit papers in APA format. Although they will teach you the specifics of these requirements, it would not hurt you to know the basics of APA before beginning courses.
#6 Research How to Avoid Plagiarism – The Internet offers so many resources to online students that it can be easy for many to not understand the rules of when and how to cite sources. Plagiarism is considered a very serious offense. One way to avoid it is to be knowledgeable of what it entails.
#7 Research Netiquette – If you have not had a lot of online experience, you may need to brush up on your netiquette skills. Netiquette is the combination of the words Internet and Etiquette. There are certain things that are considered rude such as TYPING IN ALL CAPS. The school will give you some guidance in this area, but it is a good idea to research what is proper.
#8 Set Goals – It is very important to have written, specific, measurable goals. Research how to set up meaningful goals that have measurable timelines in them for what you want to achieve with your education.
#9 Discover your preferences for learning – We all have different types of preferences when it comes to how we learn material. Do you learn the best when the material is verbal or visual? You might be a social learner or a solitary learner. By discovering your type, you can focus on learning by utilizing the information in the style or format that best fits your needs.
#10 Discover any roadblocks to your success so you can cover come them – Write down all of the reasons why you either think you might not succeed or have not succeeded in the past with your education. Next write down all of the solutions to these problems so that you will know how to confront them should they arise.
Removing Extra Spaces Between Paragraphs
I often have students ask me how to remove that annoying extra space between paragraphs in their documents. Check out this video to find out some quick tips on setting up your papers in Word.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-A6mCiSn_U&hl=en_US&fs=1]5 Ways to Develop Time Management Skills For Online Students
5 Ways to Develop Time Management Skills
I often have my students tell me they find it challenging to manage their time wisely. We all have the same amount of time in our day to accomplish things. Why do some people seem to be able to do so much more than others? Some of it is genetics. I know I am on the hyperactive side so I tend to do a lot. Other people might find what I do to be overly stressful. For me, I find that the more I do, the better I feel. You don’t have to be hyperactive to get things done. A lot is based on how organized you are. Here are some tips that may help you:
1. Put activities you need to do into your planner or calendar. Plan for studying just like you would any other appointment. Mark out time that you will read, write papers, etc.
2. Set goals for the things you want to accomplish. If you need to write a paper by Friday, have that set up in your calendar, but also have smaller tasks set up as well. For example, you might want to spend an hour on Monday writing the outline, spend an hour on Tuesday researching the topic, spend an hour on Wednesday writing the initial draft, spend an hour on Thursday proofreading and rewriting. By breaking down what needs to be done like this it makes it easier to accomplish your goal. Remember goals need to be measurable. By writing down the due dates for each task, your final goal becomes more easily attainable.
3. Recognize your roadblocks to success. Are you afraid of criticism? Do you thrive on last minute stress? Are you a perfectionist that may avoid doing things for fear of it not being perfect? These are some of the things that hold people back from completing tasks on time. Try to keep in mind that no one is perfect. If you try hard to write a good paper that is much more important than if the paper is perfect. No paper is perfect. That is too subjective. Worry less about getting perfect grades and spend more time focused on learning. If you thrive on last minute stress, perhaps you need to schedule your time closer to the due date. But be reasonable with time expectations that it may take to complete your assignment.
4. Are you lacking motivation? Often, people really do have enough time to do the work but they lack motivation. Find ways to reward yourself for doing a good job on your work. If you really want to see a movie or do something fun, have that be a reward for finishing an assignment.
5. Are you taking advantage of multi-tasking? This is something I do a lot! You can multi-task at work and home in order to create more time in your day. When I exercise, I watch my television shows at the same time. When I have work conversations on the phone, I can type my notes about what we are talking about at the same time to remind me for later. Often times, people do one thing at a time, when they can be doing multiple things to free up more time.