Affectivity Project: Another Essay.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage or control a person's emotions and also others. Emotions are feelings that come from a cause.  

Emotional intelligence is the quality that enables us to confront with patience, and imagination the many problems that we face with ourselves and with other people. Emotional intelligence shows our emotions especially those of love, desire, anger, envy, and professional ambition. 

According to Daniel Goleman, there are five key elements to it:

• Self-awareness.
• Self-regulation.
• Motivation.
• Empathy.
• Social skills.

Self-awareness: We simply must be aware of our own emotions before we can manage them effectively. If we are self-aware, we always will now how do we feel, how do our emotions could affect the other people and even ourselves. When we are self-aware, it means that we know our strengths and weaknesses. 

Self-regulation: Self-regulation is all about staying in control. What we have to do to improve it is to know our values, practice being calm and hold ourselves accountable, we have to admit our mistakes and face the consequences, no matter what they are.

Motivation: If you are motivated, probably you will have high standards for your work, and you always will want to achieve your goals. To improve it you only need to find something good and also that you like it and, re-examine why you're doing your job.

Empathy: If you are empathetic, you will be easily managing a team because if you are empathetic, you could put in someone’s perspective and see why for example they are not doing his or her job as they are supposed to and you will help that person to be better day by day. 

Social skills: People who are good at the social skills elements, are great communicators. They receive bad news as good ones, help to resolve problems in a respectful way, and are experts supporting others. 

The more that you control each of these elements, the higher your control of emotional intelligence will be. If you put all of these in practice, you probably will most likely be a more successful person through life. 

What are the benefits of emotional intelligence? 

It helps you to have personal and professional success, improve relationships, and increase communication skills. Emotional intelligence is an important part of developing human relationships. Over a series of studies, Schutte et al (2001) found that there were significant links between high emotional intelligence and more successful relationships. 

Chronic stress and negative effects such as anger, depression, and anxiety can cause different diseases like heart problems, diabetes, and a progression of hypertension. So, if you can know and control your emotions you’ll be a healthier person. 

Does Emotional Intelligence matter more than IQ?

Goleman suggests that “it is not simply a case of IQ versus EI, instead, both have considerable value. Where IQ tells us the level of cognitive complexity a person can achieve and may to some degree predetermine levels of academic achievement, EI tells us which individuals will make the best leaders within top management positions, for example.”

In conclusion, if we practice more emotional intelligence and start applying the elements of it, we’ll be a more prosperous person in life. As a matter of fact, as Goleman once said, it is not IQ vs EQ, is that you find a balance between both. Try to be happier and empathetic, that’s the only way to be a really successful person in life. 

By Andrea Parra, Step 8

Yellow, Affectivity Project.