Categories: Lifestyle

The Meaning Of Emotional Intelligence

All throughout our lives, we hear a lot of talk about IQ – but do you know what it actually means? It’s an acronym for intelligence quotient; in other words, a measurement of our logical intelligence. Most people confuse this type of intelligence with intelligence in general.

However, besides logic, there are other kinds of intelligence – some of which can be equally vital for your career success and personal improvement. For instance, through a Secure Methodology course, you can vastly improve your emotional intelligence; your EQ.

And this type of intelligence shows our ability to manage, understand, use, and recognize our emotions productively and positively. If you’re not sure who has high emotional intelligence and who’s worked less on this aspect of their personality, think about this – who in your work and home environment seems perfectly composed in stressful situations? And who understands other people’s emotions and points of view, even when they differ from their own?

Chances are that these people have high emotional intelligence – which you should also strive for. There are myriad benefits to improving your emotional intelligence, and we’ll review some of them here.

IMAGE: PEXELS

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

In most cases, people associate intelligence with someone’s ability to solve practical or logical problems by applying their knowledge and wisdom to specific problems. And what IQ is for that world of reason and logic, EQ is for the world of emotions and interpersonal relations.

That’s why emotional intelligence allows you to apply and understand yourself emotionally and use emotional conclusions to navigate the world around you and your relations to others.

The term was popularized by Daniel Goleman, a psychologist who first coined the phrase in the 1990s. Goleman pointed out five crucial components that govern emotional intelligence throughout his work.

The first one is self-awareness – which dictates how well you understand your behavior and how your reactions to other people and situations affect others in your life. And besides that, emotional intelligence is about realizing your own limitations.

Next up, we’ve got self-regulation – the aspect that tells you how adept you are at managing your feelings and thoughts and how well you control them in the process of reacting to situations and difficult circumstances.

Motivation is another key aspect of emotional intelligence because of its essential role as a driver of development and self-growth. The same goes for empathy – it’s the key predictor of how well we can understand other people’s feelings and withhold judgment when they’re starkly different from our own.

Finally, social skills show our awareness of others and our ability to communicate with people by engaging, listening, and making them feel invited to talk and share their thoughts and feelings.

Characteristics Of Emotional Intelligence

So, considering all of the above – what are individuals with higher levels of EQ like? – For starters, it’s worth pointing out that people’s personalities can differ wildly regardless of their emotional intelligence levels; at the end of the day, we’re all different people.

However, people with higher EQ will probably display some of the five traits we’ve described above more than the average individual or someone with a lower level of emotional intelligence. And consequently, people with extremely high EQ will display all five characteristics prominently.

But how do these people behave in practice?

Well, A high-EQ person will likely seem more empathetic and approachable. Also, in times of emotional turbulence or heightened stress, they will probably act more collected and calmer than the average person.

Apart from that, barring any other psychological issues (such as depression), people with higher emotional intelligence will be more driven to better and improve themselves. They’re also readier to listen to someone else’s point of view, thoughtfully process their feelings, and ponder on them before responding.

Emotional Intelligence And Success

As you might have concluded by now, emotional intelligence is also a key predictor for professional success. Sure, traits like logical intelligence, optimism, and creativity are all just as important – but emotional intelligence brings plenty of benefits to the table, many of which help you in your professional career.

These days, EQ-minded workplaces give personality tests to their employees to determine the positions they’re best suited for from an emotional intelligence standpoint. And while those personality tests don’t necessarily measure emotional intelligence, high-EQ managers use them to determine the people who are clearly great at teamwork and interpersonal relations.

When you know someone’s general EQ levels, you also know how they’re likely to react in certain situations and how well they can manage relations with clients and coworkers. For managers, this is extremely useful information for obvious reasons. On the other hand, employees would do well to learn about the advantages that emotional intelligence can give them in their workplace – especially in highly-competitive environments where it’s great to have a leg up.