One of the things we need to do to have financial freedom is to increase our income. And the best way to do this is to be excellent in what we do – no matter what field we are in. When we give our all and do our best, whether in our job or business, money will follow.
Are you an employee? Be an excellent employee! Your boss may not appreciate your effort, but someone will. One day, you will get the salary you deserve. Are you a business owner? Be an excellent one! Make your products and services exceptional and, in no time, customers will come looking for you and sales will follow.
We’re taught that we need IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient) to be excellent. But, we actually need more than these. Our agency leader taught us that we need AQ. And last Friday, I learned from Francis Kong that we also need LQ and SQ. What are these? Why do we need them to be excellent in what we do?
1. Intelligence Quotient
This one is familiar to us. We take IQ tests in school and in our workplace. Remember the set of circles and squares where we need to identify what comes next in the pattern? This measures our ability to think and solve problems. This also tests our logic, spatial imagery, memory and other factors.
This is important in conceptualizing new products for your business, for creating better reports and presentations in your school and workplace and, most especially, in solving different problems we face every day. The one who can solve more complex problems usually has a higher chance of being promoted. The business that can provide better solutions usually has a higher chance of being profitable.
That’s why it’s important to improve our IQ. To never stop learning. This world is ever changing and we need to learn continuously in order to keep up.
Do you want to know how you can learn more every day? Treat everyone as better than yourself. When we talk to someone, always think: “What can I learn from this person?”
There are a lot of other ways to improve our IQ. We can read, play strategic and memory games, write and exercise. Yes, when we exercise, we can think more clearly. On the other hand, there are also things we do that decreases our IQ like watching TV. This is one of the reasons why I stopped watching TV series almost two years ago. I still watch movies and basketball games, but not as much as before.
2. Emotional Quotient
Another important thing we need is high EQ. This is our ability to recognize and manage emotions. You may be the smartest person in your company but it doesn’t mean that you’ll succeed. EQ plays a very important part.
EQ determines our ability to control ourselves, relate well with people and empathize with them. Whether you are an employee or a business owner, you need good relationship with other people to be excellent in what you do. People will most likely prefer the one they can trust and get along with easily. If you are an employee, you need good relationship with your boss, with your colleagues and with other teams. Trust me, this will make your work a lot easier. If you are a business owner, you need good relationship with your customers to make them buy again from you and with suppliers so you can always get a good deal. Moreover, the higher your EQ is, the better your leadership and negotiation skills are.
The first step in improving our EQ is to be in touch with our own emotions. We need to recognize our feelings first before we can manage it. To do this, I pause, take a deep breath and think of what I’m feeling and what triggered it. Writing in my journal makes it easier for me to determine the things that make me happy, sad or angry. I’m usually silent when I’m sorting things out. And when I finally recognize my feelings, that’s the only time I allow myself to respond. Sometimes, after recognizing what I’m feeling, I find it difficult to manage it. That’s when I do the progressive muscle relaxation I learned from WikiHow. To do this, I tense then relax muscles in my body from toe to head to release the tension from anxiety.
Learning how to recognize and manage our emotions is a long process. But this is vital. Once we learn how to do this, we also learn how to recognize and respond appropriately to other people’s emotions. We learn how to empathize. And we learn how to deal with them.
3. Adversity Quotient
I only learned about it this year. AQ is our ability to get back up again from a defeat. We may be in different industries and different lines of work. But there’s one thing in common: We will all experience failure. Once, twice or thrice? It doesn’t matter. As long as we have the ability to move on and start again.
If you are an employee, there’ll be times when you won’t get your reports right, when you won’t hit your target, when your efforts won’t be good enough. If you are a business owner, there’ll be times when sales will be low, when you will lose a client. Again, we will all experience failure. What will make you excellent is how you’ll respond to it. Will you quit? Or will you try again?
If you want to be excellent, if you want to earn more, you should not stop. Failure is only a phase. It is neither your identity nor your destination. Didn’t hit your target? Lost a client? Got a report wrong? Evaluate what went wrong and learn from it. Don’t get stuck because of the pain. Don’t waste your failures. Remember, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
I’ve had my fair share of failures in my life. I made mistakes and lost clients in the process. I got to a point where I didn’t have money anymore. Did I think of quitting? I honestly thought about it. But I still chose to continue and try har
To improve our AQ, I can only think of one thing and that is to take risks and experience more failures. Crazy? Not really. The more pain we can endure, the stronger we become. Robert Kiyosaki, author of the book Rich Dad Poor Dad said, “Fail harder and fail faster – but only do so when you are willing to learn when you do.”
So start that business you’ve always wanted, apply to that job you’ve always dreamed of, talk to that client you’ve always wanted to approach. Don’t be afraid to fail.
4. Likeability Quotient
This is the ability to possess the right attitude. This, I think, goes hand-in-hand with EQ. If you have high EQ, you’re most probably enjoyable and pleasant to work with. Thus, you are likeable.
When all else is equal – skills, knowledge, experience and competence – people will always choose the likeable one. Sometimes, they even choose the more likeable one than the more competent one. People don’t admit it but that’s how they choose whom to promote and whom to buy from.
So if you want to be promoted, if you want to be the preferred business or sales person, being likeable helps a lot. Don’t get me wrong, a likeable person is different from a people-pleaser. A likeable person is genuine. He/she is kind to people because he/she really wants to help and not because he/she just wants to please them.
To know how to improve your LQ, I will ask you to do an activity. List down five people you like working with and why you do so. After doing that, list down five people you don’t like working with and why you don’t. This will give you an idea on how to be likeable. Develop the traits you like from other people and avoid the traits you don’t like.
5. Spiritual Quotient
For me, this is the most important of all. Sadly, this is taken for granted nowadays. Spirituality is not just another aspect of our life. We don’t practice spirituality only when we go to church or prayer meetings. Being religious and being spiritual are not the same. Going to mass, praying novenas, and attending prayer meetings make you religiously mature. But when you don’t treat other people well, when you hurt them, take advantage of them, steal from them and kill them, you fail to be spiritually mature. Spirituality is a way of life. It is not separate from our family life, work life, and community life. It should be embedded in every part of our life.
Spiritual quotient is the ability to know and live up the truth that we are the beloved children of God. If we know this in our hearts, we know that we have a higher purpose in this life. And that is to love God and love others.
Why is SQ important to be excellent and to earn more? My favorite bible verse explains it. In Matthew 6:33, it says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” If we seek God first, if we love Him genuinely, blessings will follow. If we want to glorify Him, we will hone our God-given gifts and talents (IQ), we will empathize more with others (EQ), we will stand up again when we fall because we know that He is with us (AQ) and we will have a positive attitude because we know that He gives us peace and joy (LQ). So the higher SQ we have, the higher IQ, EQ, AQ and LQ we’ll also have.
How’s your IQ. EQ, AQ, LQ and SQ? Let’s continue to strive to be better every day. When we become excellent in what we do, money will follow.