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There are many different aspects of your life where you can apply emotional intelligence in your life. Two of the most important places in your life to apply this new skill are in the workplace and your relationships because both of these include a lot of communication and interaction with other people. Let's take a look at how important emotional intelligence can be in both of these areas.
Emotional intelligence in the workplace
Many companies are learning more about emotional intelligence because it can help them to pick out employees who will do better in the job position. Since emotional intelligence is all about knowing and understanding your own feelings and how they will determine which actions you take, finding someone who has a high emotional intelligence helps to guarantee that they will be a better employee. These people will have less anger or mood swings, are more effective, less stressed out, and more productive compared to other employees.
This emotional intelligence can help you out a lot too. To start with, high emotional intelligence is going to help you to pick the kind of work that you will enjoy the most. You can take a look at what skills and duties seem like fun or exciting to you, and you can use this to pick a field where you will have the motivation to work. You will get to your job in the morning and not feel like you need to procrastinate and your goals will never be in doubt.
In addition, those who have a higher emotional intelligence are the ones who are able to balance their work and personal life. They give work the attention that it needs, but when they are home, they leave the work behind. They realize that play and home time are just as important as work and they try to give them attention as well.
If you are a manager or one of the leaders in a company, you will find that emotional intelligence can serve you well. You can use this skill to assess what your employee needs without them suffering or getting mad because they feel ignored. You are able to use this intelligence to understand the impact of decisions on your staff, and you can manage expectations, both your own and theirs, more effectively, take action so that friction is kept to a minimum, and even answer questions when they arise. Managers who are emotionally intelligent are the ones who will listen to their employees without feeling attacked or taking things too personally.
Another thing that you will notice is that when your emotional intelligence improves, you are able to communicate and understand others in the workplace better. To start with, you are able to apply persuasive techniques to get across the point that you want, to influence your team or your boss, and even to make a sale. Employees who are emotionally intelligent are clear when they speak to others, and don't have issues that are unaddressed or other motivations that are not pure. They are able to nurture good relationships with customers and others in the company that will serve them well. You will find that when employees have good emotional intelligence, there is better team building and synergy.
At times, you will have to deal with a conflict in the workplace. Those who have emotional intelligence have worked on increasing their self-control, and this can be so helpful when it comes to avoiding conflicts in the workplace. You will be able to approach the conflict and assess your own feelings before reacting, so you come up with the result that makes everyone happy.
In addition, those who have a higher emotional intelligence are the ones who seem to be flexible in life, and they won't hold onto grudges or bad attitudes towards the people they work with. When you are able to keep track and observe your feelings when there is a situation that is stressful, you can minimize the stress that you feel and your negotiation skills will improve.
As you can see, there are quite a few ways that emotional intelligence will be able to help you do better in the workplace. It will help you to pick out a job that you will be passionate about, will help you to avoid conflicts, become a better manager, and even a good negotiator. If you want to succeed in your career, it is time to work on your emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence and your relationships
There are a lot of ways that emotional intelligence can help you out with your relationships. Think about it this way, if you get upset over little things in the relationship, it is going to be hard to keep it going. If you ignore the feelings of your partner, they will get upset and may reconsider being with you. If you are always angry or negative, your relationship is over.
The five core traits that come with someone with high emotional intelligence help to show how it can help out with your relationships. These include:
● Social skills: Those who have a higher emotional intelligence level are ones who will interact well with those around them. They will be more involved in teamwork and have good communication skills, all of which can be important in a relationship.
● Empathy: This is basically the capacity to recognize an emotion that someone else is feeling and then respond in the proper way. In a relationship, the other person may feel upset at times, and they will need you to step in and help them feel better. Without emotional intelligence, this can be impossible for you to do.
● Motivation: This can be the drive or the force that will help the person take their negative situations and thoughts and turn them into ones that are more positive. There will be times when the relationship hits a sour spot, but someone with good emotional intelligence will be able to take that situation and turn it around into something better.
● Self-regulation: This talks about how you will be able to keep control of your emotions when you are under pressure. Relationships can be hard sometimes, and being able to assess a situation and give out the right reaction will make a big difference.
● Self-awareness: This one talks about how conscious you are about your emotions in the present moment. There are times when your emotions will be ready to go out of control, but self-awareness will help you to keep them in control.
All of these can be so important when it comes to having healthy relationships. Having mastery over your emotions will help you to feel safe in a relationship, no matter what kind of situation you are going through. There are times when you may get upset and a fight or flee response will happen, but emotional intelligence will help you to avoid that. The good news is when you are able to observe the situation and control your emotions, you are actually able to reduce the negative responses that you are getting from your partner as well.
So, how well do you think you score on your emotional intelligence when it comes to your relationship? Take this short quiz, using true or false for the questions that are asked.
● When I reach a frustration or setback, it takes me awhile to recover.
● I often miss emotional cues from my partner and others.
● In some cases, I enjoy the rush that can come with negativity or anger.
● When my partner starts to criticize me, I will start to verbally lash back.
● I have trouble communicating my feelings.
● I spend time looking for the faults present in others, and this includes my partner.
● Even when I am the one to blame, I have trouble admitting it.
● When I face a difficult situation, I find that it is hard to see an upside.
● My partner often tells me that I am insensitive.
● Sometimes I am in a bad mood and am not sure why.
● In a fight, I often do or say things that I regret later.
All of us have some places where we are able to improve our emotional intelligence. But, if you look through your answers and you had at least five of them that you answered as true, you may need to work on your emotional intelligence a bit more. The good news is that you are able to make improvements to your emotional intelligence so that you can be in better control over your emotions and have better relationships overall.
There are many times when your emotions may get the best of you, and it may be these times when your career or your relationship will suffer because of it. But when you are able to follow the techniques that are needed for emotional intelligence, you will be able to get more satisfaction out of both these areas and have fewer issues to deal with.
