Emotional Intelligence is a word most people don’t recognize with but it is the need of the hour for both professional and personal success. Moreover, Emotional Intelligence is more essential than IQ.
Have you ever analyze why you were misunderstood or perceived in a negative way post a fight or a conversation? You haven’t right? But if you were an emotionally intelligent person you would have done it.
Now let’s see what an Emotionally Intelligent person would do! Firstly, he would stay calm during an argument and put his perspective in an understanding manner. Or he would later analyze the conversations that resulted in the fight.
That is, an emotionally intelligent person tries to figure out whether it was his lack of communication or the other person’s that lead to the conflict.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Quotient (EQ) is the ability of a person by which he can understand and control his reactions, mind, and emotions as well as those of people surrounding him.
This emotional intelligence has more impact on the success of a person. An emotionally intelligent person knows what he feels in a certain situation and emotes accordingly without being impulsive and hurting people.
Moreover, they know that for a friendly environment it is very necessary for all involved to talk, listen and understand the mindset and situation of each other.
As an example, we can see the case of a mother who shouts at her child for small things. She is not emotionally intelligent and thus creates a negative effect of herself on her kid which might result in a lifelong scar.
On the other hand, a mother who politely makes her child understand what wrong the kid did is empathetic and emotionally intelligent. Her child will have a positive attitude towards her and will learn more actively what she teaches and they will form a healthy relationship in the future.
The good news is that emotional intelligence can be learned and nurtured in a person!
Types Of Emotional Intelligence:
Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist formulated five categories in his book titled “Emotional Intelligence – Why It Can Matter More Than IQ” which shows what emotional intelligence is. The following 5 is what emotional intelligence comprises of:
1. Self-Awareness:
A self-aware person is someone who knows what he feels in a certain situation and how he will react to that. They know the alternatives and results of their reactions and thus try to interact and express in a much more acceptable way.
Moreover, they analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of their behavior and emotions. Even when they say something wrong, they know that it was them who created the problem.
They are always open to changes and growth rather than being stubborn. They never lie to themselves. And an emotionally intelligent person is a highly self-aware one.
For example, you behaved rudely with your friend yesterday. Now despite being ignorant if you apologize to your friend the next day you will show the characteristics of an emotionally intelligent person.
2. Motivation From Criticism:
An emotionally intelligent person is always motivated to do different things in life. They take criticism and bad situations of life as a blessing and learn from their mistakes. But they never do negative Self-talk.
An emotionally intelligent person knows his worth. Even they consider these things a mode of growth and take motivation to better themselves. They know rather than retaliating a claim about them it is better to accept the negative words with a smile and work to prove the gossipmongers wrong.
3. Self-Regulation:
What do you do when your friends suddenly call you for a hangout? You probably go with them without giving much thought. But when you come back you remember that you have a submission deadline that day. This in turn creates stress for you.
Nevertheless, if you had been an emotionally intelligent person you would have said “NO” to your friends in the first place. This Self-Control is very important i.e. the one who knows how to control their emotions, wants, and desires without being impulsive in a happy, stressful, or even sad situation will be more successful.
These types of people don’t get angry, excited, or jealous instantly and they know what is better for them thus knowing when to say NO.
4. Empathy:
This quality is something very much needed in today’s world and a generation who have become judgmental and critical about everything and everyone’s life. A highly emotionally intelligent person however has this empathy.
Empathy means the ability to understand the feelings and needs of another person. An empathetic person doesn’t judge people easily and stays open to conversations and is a support shoulder for others.
In addition, they know that people who show anger must be going through some personal or professional crisis. They try to put themselves in the shoes of others.
As an example, when your father shouts at you after coming from work, it is your duty as an empathetic being to not feel bad and understand that it is okay sometimes as he must have had a stressful day at work.
5. Social Skills:
An emotionally intelligent human has great socialization skills which include communication, negotiation, mutual understanding, dispute minimization, and more. They are the leaders of any workspace as they know how to communicate with certain people and mitigate likewise. Interpersonal skills are very important for any relationship or corporate place and the ones who have them are referred to as highly emotionally intelligent.
The future is of emotionally intelligent humans along with artificial intelligence. Now more companies are hiring people based on their EQ level to boost up customer satisfaction and sales. Even a person who has high emotional intelligence is successful in keeping his relationships stable and happy. So, let’s become emotionally intelligent for a better tomorrow.