IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN TODAY’S WORLD

We are dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think, and feel.

This quote by Marshall B. Rosenberg stresses the need to develop consciousness of our emotions, feelings and behavior. Now some of you will say that you are always conscious. Actually No. Nobody is conscious of their thoughts all the time. But for some people, it is more difficult to look into their mind than others. Acknowledgement of our emotions is something worth having for every one of us. Along with acknowledging our emotions, we also need to handle them positively. In this post, we will discuss emotional intelligence, which is something that is lesser-known but should be a very undistinguished part of our life.

What is Emotional intelligence?

First, let's understand what emotional intelligence is. Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, overcome challenges that life throws and to stay calm in the toughest situations.

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Importance of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is necessary for every aspect of life, be it the workplace, family, relationship or any other arena. Only intellectual intelligence or IQ is not enough to become a successful person. Life does not only need money, but life also needs support, love, care and the feeling of fulfilment. Money cannot buy satisfaction and mental peace. Emotional intelligence can help you in attaining this.

When I was in school, there were a few classmates of mine who, on the day of result declaration, used to take their marks to their heart and would behave as the world ended. But on the same page, there were a few of my classmates who were good in studies but never got upset because of lower marks, why? Were not they worried about their grades? They were. But they positively processed their emotions. They knew how to tackle failures and how to remain calm in all situations. We can say that they are the people having good EQ. This example is one of the circumstances where unknowingly EQ benefits you.

Now let us dive into the main areas of life where EQ plays a vital role.

1.) EQ helps in dealing with stress.

Emotional intelligence helps us in coping with stress and managing emotions. When life throws challenges, it is our emotional intelligence that comes to the rescue. EQ helps us in dealing with the pressure of an exam or the workload of the office.

Are you one of those who respond very calmly even under pressure? Or are you the one who turns the world upside down whenever a stressful situation shows up? Here comes the role of EQ. When a challenging situation comes on your way, and you react emotionally to it, you would find it difficult to solve that problem effectively as your emotions will overpower your thinking ability. I think now you got the idea of how crucial EQ is in stress management.

2.) Relationships and EQ. Is there any connection?

Yes, there is! A person with a better EQ manages his relationships in a better way as compared to a person with lower EQ. Be it your relationship with your partner, kids, parents, relatives or friends, a person with a good EQ excels in all of them. I have seen people struggling to maintain a healthy relationship due to lack of understanding or due to stress. But, if you develop your ways of managing various emotions, you will be able to make your relationships healthy and happy with everyone around you.

Not only personal relationships are benefited by EQ, but business relationships also get strengthened because of the empathetic and trustful nature of a person. So, if you want to increase the strength of the bond between you and your business partners work on your emotional thinking skills.

3.) Performance at the workplace

Who doesn’t want to be successful? Everyone does. You must have seen people with quiet high IQ but who fail in social life because of low emotional intelligence. These people are brilliant minds, but they don't know how to deal with people and how to communicate effectively with them. They struggle to connect with others and that's why they feel that they are not getting the feeling of fulfilment despite their genius brain. EQ also helps in lowering the stress due to work making your life a little more peaceful.

4.) Leadership comes from a good EQ

In today's competitive world, if one wishes to become a good leader then apart from skills and knowledge one should have a good EQ to interact with their team members and to empathise with them when needed. It is a general observation that most successful leaders have one thing in common, that is a high degree of emotional intelligence. A person with high emotional intelligence is more adaptable, more focused on achieving their goals, has better conflict management and is generally more successful. So what can we conclude, good leadership equals to EQ? No! Good leadership is a superb combination of EQ, IQ and skills.

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So until now, you must have realised the importance of EQ in life. But can we build our EQ? If yes, then how? The answer is that EQ can be build but it will take time and patience. This would not be an overnight process. You have to invest time and patience to get fruitful results.

Let's see how you can improve your emotional intelligence.

• Observe your emotions

Look honestly at how you think and interact with people around you. Do you make judgements before even knowing a person? If yes, then please try to know and understand people and their opinions. Accept the perspectives of others without becoming judgemental. Be aware of what you think and feel as self-awareness is an important ingredient for a good EQ.

• Develop your listening skills

During conversations, emotionally intelligent people listen for clarity instead of just waiting for their turn to speak. They make sure they understand what is being said before replying.

• Empathise

People who have a high degree of EQ know how to empathise with others. All of us try to find an empathetic ear to listen to us. Empathy develops understanding and trust between two people.

• Be motivated no matter what

Remaining self-motivated is crucial if you want to survive in the long run. Life is not a bed of roses, so keep yourself ready to tackle every challenge. You will face a lot of criticism from the world, you will face failures but you need to keep your hopes high to succeed in life.

• Learn from people around you

Never leave an opportunity to learn something out of every situation. Talk with others to know more about their struggles and the lessons they learnt.

• Maintain a positive attitude towards everything

A negative attitude affects others. Emotionally intelligent people have an awareness of the moods of those around them and guard their attitude accordingly. They are aware of what they need to do in order to have a good day and a cheering vision.

Regular practice of the above steps will definitely help you in achieving a good EQ and becoming more productive in your life. Emotional intelligence affects every facet of our life, so we need to work on it to ace every stage of our life. Now buckle up and give yourself a life long gift of emotional intelligence. Good luck.

Thanks for reading!