This is a condensed slide deck from my Winter 2019 section of The Art of Self-Coaching at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Course materials are archived at https://www.edbatista.com/the-art-of-self-coaching-course.html

1. The art of
Photo by Jill M [link]
self-coaching
Ed Batista
CLASS 4: EMOTION
Winter 2019

2. What happened?
Photo by TostadoPhoto [link]

3. Role of emotions 15 mins
An exercise 30 mins
Emotion management 20 mins
A conversation 25 mins
For next time… 5 mins
Agenda
Photo by Theresa Thompson [link]

4. Self-awareness
Photo by Andrea [link]

5. Emotion
Photo by Jill M [link]

6. Emotion
Antonio Damasio, USC
What purpose do emotions serve?
What role do they play in reasoning?

7. Emotion
Emotions evolved to support survival
Unregulated emotion can lead us astray

8. Emotion

9. Emotion
Emotion is integral to reasoning
Essential for efficient decision-making

10. Emotion
Victor Johnston, New Mexico St.
“Discriminant hedonic amplifiers”
Boost signals in our mental landscape

11. Emotion
10,000 perceptions & proprioceptions / second
63,000,000 combined in today’s class alone
This is why…

12. Emotions are
attention magnets
Photo by Garrett Mace [link]

13. Remember?
Photo by TostadoPhoto [link]

14. Emotion
Joseph LeDoux, New York University
“Quick & dirty signal”
Neural pathways 2x
Speed has a price…

15. Photo by Ed Yourdon [link]
Emotion

16. Daniel Siegel, UCLA
What is the brain doing when we lose our mind?
Emotion

17. Rapid triggering
Reflexive responses
Sensing ≠ Comprehension
Emotion

18. Photo by State Farm [link]
Threat response
Fight, flight or freeze

19. Photo by State Farm [link]
Threat response
Physiological
Adrenaline & cortisol
Optimized for strength & speed

20. Photo by State Farm [link]
Threat response
Emotional
Fear & anger
Primed for snap judgments

21. Photo by State Farm [link]
Threat response
Cognitive
Negativity bias
Impairment & diminished capacity

22. Photo by Ed Yourdon [link]
Social threat
Some social situations ≈ Physical threats
Same responses
Physiological
Emotional
Cognitive

23. What can we do?
Photo by Lydia [link]

24. Photo courtesy University of Wisconsin [link]
Emotional style

25. Emotional style
Richard Davidson, Univ. of Wisconsin
What is the neurological basis for emotion?

26. Emotional style
Prefrontal cortex involved in emotion
Emotions associated with specific neural activity
But note: “All brain regions play a role in emotion”

27. Emotional style
6 dimensions of emotional style
Rooted in measurable neurological activity

28. A caveat
Photo by Sue Clark [link]

29. A caveat
A map is not the territory it represents.
~Alford Korzybski

30. And a question:
Photo by Cydcor [link]
What’s optimal?

31. It depends…
Photo by Sutha Kamal [link]

32. Photo by Philip Bird [link]
Attention

33. Attention
Sharpness & clarity of focus
Ability to avoid distraction
Photo by Philip Bird [link]

34. Attention
Prefrontal cortex boosts & dampens signals
Also attunes to external data
Photo by Philip Bird [link]

35. Attention
•---------------------------------------------------------•
Unfocused, may be Hyper-focused,
easily distracted or may lose awareness
impulsive or lack spontaneity

36. Photo by Vincent Lock [link]
Context-
sensitivity

37. Context-
Discern differences in social environments
Regulate responses accordingly
sensitivity
Photo by Vincent Lock [link]

38. Context-
Hippocampus activity
Connections between PFC & hippocampus
sensitivity
Photo by Vincent Lock [link]

39. Context-
•---------------------------------------------------------•
Difficulty discerning Highly sensitive to
social differences & minute differences in
acting accordingly social environment
sensitivity

40. Photo by Ivan Walsh [link]
Outlook

41. Outlook
Ability to sustain positive emotion
Photo by Ivan Walsh [link]

42. Outlook
Reward circuit = PFC & nucleus accumbens
Photo by Ivan Walsh [link]

43. Outlook
•---------------------------------------------------------•
Highly pessimistic, Highly optimistic,
difficulty sustaining may be resistant to
positive feelings negative data

44. Photo by Eric Richardson [link]
Recovery time

45. Recovery time
Speed of recovery from adverse experiences
Photo by Eric Richardson [link]

46. Recovery time
Prefrontal cortex activity
Connections between PFC & amygdala
Photo by Eric Richardson [link]

47. Recovery time
•---------------------------------------------------------•
Fast to recover, may Slow to recover,
fail to register or may feel defeated
learn from setbacks by minor setbacks

48. Photo by Seattle Yoga News [link]
Self-awareness

49. Self-awareness
Ability to perceive physical aspects of emotion
Photo by Seattle Yoga News [link]

50. Self-awareness
Insula activity
Photo by Seattle Yoga News [link]

51. Self-awareness
•---------------------------------------------------------•
Out of touch with Hyper-aware, may be
physical cues that distracted by physical
accompany emotion cues & emotions

52. Photo by Ed Yourdon [link]
Social intuition

53. Social intuition
Sense others’ emotional responses
Photo by Ed Yourdon [link]

54. Social intuition
Fusiform gyrus activity
Amygdala activity
Photo by Ed Yourdon [link]

55. Social intuition
•---------------------------------------------------------•
Puzzled by others’ Highly intuitive, may
responses, socially be overly sensitive to
obtuse or insensitive others’ responses

56. A premise
Photo by Garry Knight [link]
Emotion management
An ESSENTIAL leadership skill

57. …and Top Quartile in
Leadership Effectiveness
Bottom Quartile in
Likeability…
1 in 2000
Jack Zenger & Joseph Folkman, HBR, 2013 [link]

58. Emotion
Photo by Tania Cataldo [link]
management

59. Emotion
Management ≠ Suppression or control
management

60. Emotion
management
Wegner (White Bears) on emotion
Limits on willful control are necessary
Essential to interrupt thought at key moments
This is why…

61. Emotions are
attention magnets
Photo by Garrett Mace [link]

62. Emotions are
Usually helpful inputs
And not always (“Dirty signal”)
But we can’t (& don’t want to) control them
attention magnets

63. What can we do?
Photo by Lydia [link]

64. What can we do?
Lower the waterline
Act in the moment
Build capacity

65. Photo by Andrew Smith [link]
Lower the
waterline

66. Lower the
waterline
Continually expand our self-awareness…
Emotional tendencies (Davidson)
Physiological responses (Siegel)
Cognitive biases (Kahneman)
Mindset (Dweck)

67. Act in the
moment
Photo by Harald Groven [link]

68. Act in the
Reframing
Self-soothing
Talking about feelings
moment

69. Reframing
Photo by Rodrigo Baptista [link]

70. Reframing
Cognitive reappraisal
Kevin Ochsner, Columbia
James Gross & Rebecca Ray, Stanford
How do our thoughts influence our experience?

71. Reframing
The meanings we assign  Emotional response
Re-interpret a situation  Shift our emotions
Our mental models shape our experiences

72. Self-soothing
Photo by Amanda Patsopoulou [link]

73. Self-soothing
Physiological modification
Response modification

74. Self-soothing
Active steps to influence our emotional state
Active choice in how we express emotion

75. Self-soothing
Deeper, slower breaths
Speak more slowly & monitor tone
Sense our non-verbals & body language
Shift focus of our attention

76. Talking about
Photo by Garry Knight [link]
feelings

77. Talking about
feelings
Affect labeling
Disrupts negative emotion
Talking about emotion > Thinking about emotion

78. Talking about
feelings
This takes practice
& a supportive culture
Relationships are key (social, not solitary)

79. Build capacity
Photo by Resolute Support Media [link]

80. Remember me?
Photo by Paul Colley [link]

81. Get MESSy
Photo by Paul Colley [link]

82. Get MESSy
Mindfulness
Exercise
Sleep hygiene
Stress reduction

83. Mindfulness
Non-judgmental
awareness
& acceptance
of experience

84. Mindfulness
Daniel Siegel & mindsight
Openness: Aware & unattached
Observation: Ability to perceive ourselves
Objectivity: Having a feeling ≠ Being a feeling

85. Mindfulness
Meditation

86. Mindfulness
Meditation & alternatives…
Journaling, certain forms of exercise
Any consistent practice that promotes reflection

87. Mindfulness
Photo by hjl [link]
1 hour a week in nature

88. Exercise
Photo by Simon Thalmann [link]

89. Exercise
Mind/body integration ≠ Hippie bullshit
Emotions are physiological experiences
Physical activity  Self-awareness (Davidson)

90. Sleep hygiene
Photo by Drriss & Marrionn [link]

91. Sleep hygiene
Deprivation  Lower regulation, higher anxiety
Less effective at emotion management
Less inspiring (Christopher Barnes)

92. Stress reduction
Photo by Sara V. [link]

93. Stress reduction
Chronic > Acute
Changes in neural structures
Reduced ability to down-regulate threat response

94. Stress reduction
Commuting
Work environment
How we use our phones
First 30 minutes at home

95. To sum up
Photo by Pranav Yaddanapudi [link]
Consider your current emotional style
What’s working for you? What’s not?
What changes might be useful?

96. To sum up
Lower the waterline  Self-awareness
Management tools in the moment
Get MESSy to build capacity

97. Note
No class next week
Next class = Thurs Feb 14

98. For next time…
Photo by Nicholas Vigier [link]

99. Happiness
Photo by Marina del Castell [link]

100. Beware!
This chart is OFTEN misinterpreted
Be sure you understand it
The text can be misleading
Thus my post

101. Photo by dotmatchbox [link]
Two exercises…

102. Photo by dotmatchbox [link]
Activity-Fit
Diagnostic

103. Activity-Fit
Same as in Lyubomirsky (but easier to score)
Complete after reading Lyubomirsky
Diagnostic

104. Photo by Basti Hirsch [link]
VIA Survey

105. VIA Survey
Read my introduction
120 questions, 20 mins
Be honest with yourself

106. & another survey!

107. Work in progress
Photo by Per Gosche [link]

108. Feedback helps
Photo by Per Gosche [link]

109. Photo by Aaron Matthews [link]
What’s going
well?

110. Photo by Mikel Ortega [link]
What’s not?

111. Other items…
Slides posted on my site
Today’s (and all future) 1:1s in B206
Weekly assignment due Tues Feb 12,9pm
Feedback survey link via Canvas announcement