The life of an entrepreneurs is saturated with high intensity emotional experiences, be they positive or negative. More or less controlled, emotions put their mark on our actions and decisions, which can be an asset or an obstacle. Because of this fact, putting into practice and harnessing emotional intelligence in the professional environment brings many benefits. Although barely addressed by formal education, self-awareness (more in-depth addressed in Part I, Module 1 of this training course) is of vital importance.
In this module we will focus on those emotions that you are more prone to confront with as an entrepreneur. Mind, we don’t say these are the ONLY emotions you will be confronted with – just a starting point.
Moreover, although here we are talking about emotions by themselves, in reality, it is very difficult to make a clear distinction between them and thoughts, feelings or other more complicated aspects such as character and personality traits.
You may think it would be great to have a robot-like thinking ability, with no trace of emotion – then all your decisions will be perfectly rational and correct. Well, in fact you need those emotions to be a great entrepreneur. You need the energy they generate. Although often labelled as positive or negative - emotions are neither. They are messengers and they’re here to serve you. You need all of them as long as you harness and direct their energy constructively. Keep reading to find out why and how you can turn them into your best allies.

Common sense, and to some extent, specialized literature tends to clasify emotions as either positive or negative, based on if they're pleasureable to experience or not. In other words - do they 'feel good' or 'feel bad' (either on cognitive or physiological level). Simply labeling them as negative or positive most probably leads us to do whatever it takes to avoid those in the 1st cathegoy and experience more from those in the 2nd. 

However, there are a few things to be taken into consideration:

 Although there are similarities, emotions are profoundly subjective experiences. They can be influenced culturally or through education - or by self-learning- think about something you were scared to do and now enjoy doing because you know how to.

Another aspect is the behavioral aspect of the emotion - and the outcome of that.

There are things that feel bad - but in the end have a good outcome.

Things that feel good in the moment but have a bad outcome.

Things that both feel bad and have a bad outcome (you might want to stay away from these though).

Things that both feel good and have a good outcome (of course you want more of these).

The last two cathegories are quite easy to manage. But as an entrepreneur, you will very often meet the first 2 situations - so this is what you will need to master.

In the beginning chances are you will be confronted with frustration, disappointment, fear, hopelessness and what not. But great ideas come out of frustration. Doing those things other are afraid or too lazy to do will bring you closer to success.

Then the 2nd cathegory comes. Quitting might feel pleasurable on the moment. Or doing something that you know you will give you immediate releif - such as quitting a situation you find difficult.

Sometimes (or most of the times?) might be difficult to distinguish between the different types of situations and between of the different types of emotions.

What can help is to get some CLARITY - by asking yourself the following questions:

- How does this feel (physically)? Get aware of the physiological component. Do you have palpitations, are you breathing differently, feel tension in any part of your body, heaviness/lightness?
-What was the trigger (most usually one of your thoughts). Of course, the tought can be determined by some piece of information, something that someone said - but it is still a thought. Is this a habitual thing, does it come often, like it's automated. Or can you relate it to a specific situation.
-The behavioral component: what do you feel like doing? Is it in line with your values of long term goals? Is there any immediate danger? If not, in most cases, it's better not to act immediately, at the impulse of the emotion - but give yourself a little time to process it.

Without the pretense this is a complete approach, take a look at the emotions wheel below - which might help you with categorizing some of the most common emotions. However, mind that you might be experiencing mixed, ambivalent or multiple emotions at the same time.