EQ
uipped
...for Life
A program designed to prepare your kids for real life
What would it mean to you to know that you are actively giving your kids the key skills they actually need to manage life's challenges successfully? To know you are doing what you can to 'inoculate' your kids against mental health problems?
To feel a deep sense of peace, on the day they leave home, from knowing you really did do what was in your power to complete your most important mission as a parent - to prepare them for the world they are about to face?
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What if you could achieve that most important of goals...
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without adding even more to your already overwhelming to-do list
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without having to become 'the perfect parent'
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without breaking the bank?
This isn't a clever marketing ploy or an overstated promise. It's a sensible, methodical program based on years of research, experience and longitudinal studies and it's practical. Practical because it is based on three key design principles:
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micro-learnings with micro-steps
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realistic expectations, realistic goals
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real-life applications
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Parenting can feel overwhelming. When we think of the magnitude of the responsibility we feel to prepare our little people for the enormity of life, it gets a bit scary. There are so many critical needs it is our job to meet, and the load can be daunting.
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This is NOT about something more to do, or some easy fix, but rather a significant lightening of that load. In fact, a lightening of the most challenging part of it.
What's Involved
Over the course of the program, 10 key emotional intelligence skills are covered, slowly, methodically, one at a time. These are the foundation skills that are critical to emotional and social well-being and for achieving success in life. They are not plucked out of the air but have been identified over decades and in hundreds of the most recognized scientific studies (not to mention real life) as foundational.
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It's important to understand that these 10 key EQ skills are the building blocks for all the rest. A house can't be built and certainly can't stand without solid bricks. Without the underlying foundation. It doesn't matter that the foundation isn't shiny and sexy. What matters is that it is strong and built for purpose. The decorating comes later.
Assertiveness? Stems from self-esteem and cognitive empathy (believe it or not). Tenacity? Grows out of mindset and optimism. Motivation requires the sense of self-efficacy that is born of self-esteem, plus a measure of optimism.
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Come and join us in building the strongest, most prepared adults our kids can become.
The bedrock of mental health. It means I don't base my feelings of worth on the opinions of others.
That means I don't base my choices on pleasing others or winning approval. I am secure in who I am.
You cannot effectively manage an emotion you can't even identify.
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This is the essential prerequisite to managing our emotions so that they don't control us.
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And to understanding others' emotions.
The single biggest predictor of success in every aspect of life. Not an overstatement.
When you can't control your emotional responses, they control you and the results can range from chaos to devastation. As we see in the news daily.
A vital factor in academic (or any) success.
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My 'fixed mindset' makes me believe I am incapable of improving, regardless of effort.
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My 'growth mindset' tells me I can increase my ability through effort.
You can't manage what you can't see about yourself. It's about being honest with yourself and seeing why you do what you do. So you can make better choices.
What is it really that is making you want to choose that partner or spend that money? Without self-knowledge you react instead of act. It's how so many of us end up unhappy and lost and don't even know why. Because we are so out of touch with our true self.
Empathy is not sympathy, and it's not just about altruism. It's the most powerful social skill there is - and, surprisingly, essential to healthy self-esteem.
It's about seeing from someone else's perspective. When you do, the world no longer revolves around you. That means that what others do (including socially hurtful things) are no longer a reflection on you, but of where they are coming from. Can you see the power of that paradigm shift? Priceless. Life-changing.
Do we see only negatives in life or do we have a more realistic - yes, realistic - perspective? Because our interpretations of this life are based on our assumptions, and these are instilled in us very early in life.
A key mental habit we adopt early in life is whether we focus on avoiding negative consequences or on achieving positive ones. Can you see the oh-so-subtle but powerful difference between those two mental habits? It's not hard to see what a massive difference it makes to being happy and successful.
Resilience is about how we manage and bounce back from setbacks in life - and we’ll have lots of those. What do we do about them? Become a helpless victim or adopt an attitude of agency? It’s easy to see where the former will take you in terms of mental health - not to mention success - if it becomes your automatic response.
Understanding our locus of control in life is essential to maintaining ownership of our life and not allowing the setbacks to define it.
Maturity (and mental health) is about taking ownership of your own choices and happiness. Until you do, you are just the victim of other people's.
Boundaries involve discerning between what is our own responsibility and what is someone else's. What's in your own backyard, and what is in the other person's.
And it's about not taking responsibility for someone else's choices. Knowing where you end and they begin - that boundary line - is essential. Without it, life can become overwhelming.
What can you see so clearly now that you couldn't see then? Wishing you knew then what you know now.
Sometimes it's because we refused to see at the time. We so wanted something to be true that we refused to see it any other way. The investment deal that was guaranteed to pay off. The romantic partner we so wanted to be 'the one', to be the ideal we were 'seeing'.
Nobody is immune to this stumbling block. But the better we get at recognising when it happens, the more power we have to make choices based on reality and not on what we want to see.
How it Works
The program is designed to work on the 10 key skills (one per module) in an order that builds each on the one before. Each module builds the skill incrementally, with micro-learnings and micro-activities, over approximately 10-13 weeks. Each learning and activity is bite-sized. The skills are developed in a way that integrates with real life and without adding more to your to-do list.
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What's the Goal?
Let's start with what's not the goal: perfection. For you or your child.
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What you will come away with is this: moving your Preparing-My-Kids-For-Life needle from the Hit-And-Miss end of the spectrum to the Truly-Best-I-Could-Do-in-Real-Life end.
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We live in an imperfect world. There is no such thing as flawless parenting, or fault-free development into issue-free adulthood. So the aim of this program is for you, on completion of it, to have done a much better job - and a much more conscious one - of preparing your child for life. You'll have done the best job as you can under your circumstances.
What's the Cost?
This is the best part. Because it's a slow-release, paced program, the cost is very affordable and easy to manage month to month. And because it's my passion and dream to see the skilling of children in EQ skills around the world, the more parents who come on board, the lower the cost will eventually be.
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So spread the word to your parent friends and colleagues. Send them a link to this page.
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A detailed outline of plan options and costs is being designed right now. Sign up to the program to be kept up to date (doesn't mean you are automatically enrolled). The Basic Plan is set at $5 per month - crazy low considering the benefits to your kids and your family. This is to make it as accessible as possible to low-income or struggling families. Additional plans will include many extras and more personal support. Stay tuned!
Basic Plan
$5 / month
Additional Plans
TBD
Where do I go from here?
This life-altering, unique, world-first program is in development, and expected to go live in mid 2024 - after a pilot release early in the year.
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Want to get in on the (really, really) ground floor and be part of our Pilot Focus Group? We are offering this opportunity to the first 30 people who express an interest in doing this. What you'll get in return is early (free) access to materials, and the chance to influence the final design and content. You'll also get 6 months' free access after go-live. Complete the Keep Me Informed form below and make sure to check the Focus Group checkbox to apply.
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Just want to be kept up to date on go-live? Complete the Keep Me Informed form below. You won't be spammed, just informed of progress.
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In the meantime, check out the blog posts about EQ and life.
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