What Is Emotional Intelligence?
People believe that IQ and academic achievement are inextricably bound. In the classroom, we’re graded on our performance in exams that are given at predetermined times. Students’ grades are determined by their test performance, which is used to compare them to other students nationwide. Schools are concerned with how well their pupils do against others. SAT and ACT tests are given to evaluate our basic maths and reading comprehension skills.
Studies have shown that IQ accounts for only about 20% of success. In addition to IQ, social and emotional intelligence are crucial to success. There are no established classes on emotional intelligence in most schools.
“People with well-developed emotional skills are … more likely to be content and effective in their lives, mastering the habits of the mind that foster their own productivity; people who cannot marshal some control over their emotional life fight battles that sabotage their ability for focused work and clear thought.
— Daniel Goeman, “Emotional Intelligence”
Our emotional mind developed to help us survive, and our rational mind developed to help us survive. Whenever we encounter something new, we must judge whether it may be eaten or eaten on us, and this is a matter of life and death. If we relied on our rational mind, which takes longer to process information, we might sacrifice mankind. The emotional mind springs into action more quickly than the rational one. Because we lack control over the emotional mind, we will frequently make poor decisions and choices.
The top five reasons why EQ is so important in life are:
- EQ is more important than other factors in determining success.
Your IQ is only 20% responsible for your success in life. Your emotional intelligence and social intelligence are much more significant factors. It is claimed that if your IQ is right, you may get a job. However, If your EQ is deficient, you might lose your job.
- Future success is heavily dependent on the ability to delay gratification.
The top indicator of future success is the ability to pay now and defer the pleasure. We’ve become a nation of people seeking instant pleasure, in part because we seek it now rather than deferring it. In addition to eating foods that seek gratification now rather than later, our buy-now-pay-later lifestyle, our difficulty staying on an exercise routine, and our inclination to spend time on mindless entertainment instead of our own development, we see this in our everyday lives.3. Having a high EQ helps you to have healthy relationships with others.
Our relationships with others depend on our ability to regulate our emotions and communicate our feelings in a healthy manner. We must understand where our feelings originate from and how to appropriately express them. In order to maintain healthy relationships, we must be able to control our emotions, communicate our feelings in a constructive manner, and understand the feelings of others.4. Being emotionally healthy has an impact on physical health.
Our physical health depends on our emotional well-being. It’s estimated that over 80% of our health problems are caused by stress. Life can be very stressful; this is why we suffer from poor physical health. To understand the connection between our emotional well-being and our physical health, we must grasp the link between our mental and physical health.5. Poor emotional intelligence is linked to crime and other unethical behaviours.
There’s a strong link between poor emotional abilities and rising criminality. It’s not uncommon for young people who don’t have adequate emotional abilities to become class outcasts. They may get into fights or react impulsively because of a hot temper. They may have adapted to fight rather than reason. Poor social and emotional abilities are linked to poor classroom concentration and frustration. These students drop out of school quickly, and they may seek companionship with other students in the same predicament. Poor emotional and social abilities are a major root cause of criminal behaviour in young people.It is always worth investing in prevention in order to save money on treatment. The cost of intervening when a child is in school is relatively inexpensive, but incarcerating them when they are young and unemployed is quite costly.
What Is The Best Way To Increase Your Emotional Intelligence?
To be successful in life, we must be able to recognise our emotions and recognise when we are experiencing them. We must learn how to handle our emotions so we can handle life’s challenges. If we do not learn to handle our emotions in life’s challenges, we will constantly be battling feelings of gloom and distress. We must also learn to motivate ourselves, learn emotional self-control, and delay gratification. We must be able to recognise emotions in others in order to have healthy relationships. We must also be able to recognise our feelings in order to have healthy relationships.
