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Stoical Habits
Mastering the ancient art of thinking clearly under pressure isn’t about processing information faster than other people or knowing more facts.
Intelligence, it turns out, is less about what you know and more about how you think, with the stoical habits of emotional intelligence being seen as the highest form of intelligence there is.
Individuals with a high emotional quotient (EQ):
- pause before responding, as opposed to simply reacting
- separate what they can control from what they can’t
- question their first or immediate impulse
- practise voluntary discomfort
- embrace silence and solitude
- journal their thoughts
- limit emotional exposure to others’ opinions
- accept setbacks without panic
- think in probabilities, not certainties
- choose their habits over their moods
Developing such stoical habits enables us to shift a reactive mind into a more disciplined one, transforming how we respond to challenges, setbacks and uncertainty.