Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is sometimes called EQ for short. And it's essentially the ability to identify and
manage both your emotions and the emotions of the people that you interact with. It encompasses
several skills, including interpersonal and communication skills. Having emotional intelligence means
you're aware of your feelings and how your interactions affect others. When you develop your ability to
be aware of your emotions and react accordingly, you can have better chances of success, both in your
professional and personal relationships.

Having a high EQ is going to benefit you if you're interested in management, if you work in client or
customer-facing roles, or even if you just work in a team environment. Here we discuss the four
fundamentals of emotional intelligence and how to improve them in a way that will positively impact
yourself and others. And also how to perform an EQ self-evaluation.

Number one, self-awareness. Self-awareness is the ability to identify your emotions and emotional
triggers. Being aware of your feelings helps you understand how others might perceive your emotions.
Self-awareness is a valuable attribute to have to understand how you are viewed by your coworkers,
clients, or managers. To improve self-awareness, start by trying to gain a better understanding of how
your emotions affect your thoughts and your actions. Determining what brings you joy, sadness, anger,
and fear is the first step towards understanding these emotions and not letting them affect your
judgment. Start by observing your emotions. Whenever you have a strong emotion like fear, joy, or
frustration, take some time to explore it and look for what's driving this feeling for you. Get in the habit
of reflecting on your actions and emotions every day, or at least every other day. Writing in a diary or
journal daily is a great way to self-reflect.

And this leads us to our second fundamental of emotional intelligence-- self-regulation. Having emotions
and feeling things deeply is a good thing. It's part of being human. Self-regulation is the ability to adjust
your emotions to create a desired effect. And the ability to do this will positively impact your
relationships, because your feelings can sometimes have a strong and undesired effect on other people.
For example, if you're feeling stressed at work, and a co-worker stops you to ask a question, you might
quickly answer and might even have an unfriendly tone. In this situation, you likely aren't frustrated with
the co-worker, but it could come across that way. Self-regulation is about training your mind to be more
positive. And when we talk about self-regulation, we often use terms like manage and control. These
may be strong words, but they are inherently negative when we're talking about emotions. It's actually
very self-empowering to understand how you're feeling, and take steps to adjust your feelings to remain
in control of them and stay professional.

So here are three strategies that will help you improve your self-regulation. Rewarding yourself for a job
well done, practicing meditation, and holding yourself accountable when necessary. Now, implementing
a personal reward system that allows you to celebrate when you achieve a goal, can help to create more
positivity at work. Rewards can be equal to how big or small your achievement is, like taking a brief
break after spending a long time working on a task, or treating yourself to a nice dinner after you've
completed an important project. With this strategy, you can build a positive self-image over time, which
can help to develop a more positive attitude in general. And this improves your ability to self-regulate,
because instead of becoming overwhelmed by a larger task at hand, you're able to break up your work
into smaller pieces and celebrate the milestones. Meditation allows you to quietly reflect and gain more
control over your thoughts. Making an effort to practice any amount of meditation, even a daily five-
minute session, can have a positive impact on your self-regulation abilities. Schedule time each day to sit
in a quiet space, clear your mind, and focus on your breathing. This practice can help you develop a
sense of calm when difficult thoughts arise, which can help you to regulate your emotions and behaviors
when needed. If you find yourself strapped for time, taking a moment to close your eyes and slowly
count to 10, focusing on each number and your breath, can help you stay present in the moment.

If you schedule complex task to be completed by the end of the week, you can make a strategy for
separating this larger task into smaller and more manageable assignments to complete throughout the
week. You can also ask a co-worker to be your accountability buddy, somebody who will check your
progress each day. Holding yourself accountable and taking steps to help others do the same can
improve your ability to self-regulate how you act and react when given a task at work. And be sure to
celebrate once you complete those milestones.

Social awareness. Self-awareness is the ability to recognize your own emotions. Social awareness is
understanding the emotional needs of the people around you and then customizing your message to
meet others where they are in order to connect, inspire, and influence behavior. And showing empathy
and noticing various emotional cues from others can lead to better social outcomes. You can start to
improve your social awareness by paying close attention to the subtle actions and reactions of those
around you. Over time, you can improve your ability to perceive and understand other people's
emotional responses, which will enable you to better empathize with their feelings. It can help to try to
understand why someone feels the way they do. If someone comes to you upset about a problem,
acknowledge their feelings and find ways to understand their reasons for feeling the way that they do.
You might find that people are not always vocal about how they're feeling. So it can help to try to stay in
tune with the feelings of others, also. Being aware of the feelings of others is just as important as being
aware of your own because it can help you develop empathy. Now, empathy is the ability to understand
and share the feelings of another person. Understanding the feelings of others allows you to handle
workplace situations more effectively. You don't need to agree with the person to empathize with them.
For example, when a co-worker is showing signs of dismay, you may not agree with why they're upset,
but you can react with empathy to alleviate a situation before it escalates. It can also help to embrace
the differences you see in your co-workers and learn about different cultures. Increasing your awareness
of the differences in people, cultures, and worldviews can improve your emotional awareness and
intelligence because it helps you see the perspective of others. So, undoubtedly, empathy is so
important in the workplace.

Moving on to the last fundamental of emotional intelligence, relationship management. Creating

healthy, amicable, and productive relationships with others is usually based on your ability to clearly
communicates your thoughts, influence others with your words and actions, and successfully work
within a team. Your relationship management skills generally improve when other components of
emotional intelligence do. For example, a person who is able to successfully self-regulate, has high self-
awareness, they can likely understand the emotions of those around them too. This person has a higher
chance of developing long-lasting and healthy relationships. Strengthening your relationship
management skills can begin by improving your active listening. Active listening is the ability to focus
completely on a speaker, understand their message, comprehend the information, and respond
thoughtfully. Your ability to truly hear what a person is saying and respond thoughtfully can help others
to perceive you as someone who cares and is also a team player. It can also help to surround yourself
with like-minded individuals.