A wise man once said, “Don’t ask someone if he’s intelligent, but rather what intelligence he’s blessed with.” Someone’s intellectual ability is not more decisive than his emotional intelligence (EQ) when it comes to achieving happiness and success in life. In fact, emotionally intelligent people have healthier human relationships than others, which help them to achieve their career goals and enjoy a better life.
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence, very basically, is the ability of a person controlling his or her emotions rather than a person being controlled by them. When we talk about emotionally intelligent people, we tend to distinguish the following 4 attributes:
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Self-awareness: Being conscious of your own feelings, the way they affect your behavior and your thoughts, and how your thoughts in turn affect them. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is part of it, too.
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Self-management: Being able to control impulsive feeling and behavior whenever you believe it to be in your interest. Mastering yourself or becoming as “free” as you can be, in other words. A very desirable human attribute, isn’t it?
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Social awareness: Being conscious of other people’s feelings, concerns and basic needs and wants as human beings. Also being able to enjoy and take part in human interaction, recognizing the power and dynamics in groups.
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Relationship management: The capacity to enjoy long-established relationships with other people, maybe sharing common interests, where the different parties influence each other while enjoying their company, being able to manage conflicts.
