5 Easy Ways to Hone Your Emotional Intelligence Skills

You’ve heard the term emotional intelligence applied to everything from business to personal development, but why is it such a big deal?

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

Intelligence refers to your general ability to obtain and use knowledge, but your emotional intellect (or EQ for short) is a measurement of your awareness, control, and application of emotions.

A solid EQ can prevent bad traffic from turning into road rage or stop you from making a rash decision that could jeopardize your job.

That’s why we compiled the following tips for boosting and managing your EQ straight from the experts themselves.

Stay Cool Under Pressure—Literally.

Are you the type to splash water on your face when you start to feel hot and bothered?

Maybe you prefer to take a walk around the block instead?

Whatever your preferred method is, your instincts are on the money because the experts over at Psychology Today couldn’t agree more.

Cool temperatures and fresh air are proven to reduce stress and anxiety. Splashing cool water on your face is a type of hydrotherapy that stimulates blood flow and oxygen throughout your body to help calm your nerves.

Recognize Patterns

In his 2014 FedEx case study, top EQ expert and CEO Joshua Freedman, found the following after reviewing an experimental EQ-driven management program:

• 10% to 50% improvement in EQ skills and leadership outcomes.
• 72% of participants reported a noted improvement in decision-making skills.
• 60% reported an overall improvement in their quality of life.

During the first step, participants were challenged to recognize patterns that helped shape their emotional intelligence.

Taking some time out of your day to recognize your emotional patterns can do the following:

• Track your emotional responses to increase awareness.
• Help break “autopilot” emotional responses that may be having a negative impact on your career or relationships.
• Improve your understanding of other people’s emotions

How To Bounce Back

Getting back up on your feet after being knocked down is easier said than done, but the experts over at The Guardian have some great tricks for bouncing back and feeling good about yourself again:

• Set manageable goals that you can accomplish
• Shift to a “glass half full” approach to life.
• Don’t hesitate to discuss your feelings with a trusted confidant.
• Take up a positive hobby to feel accomplished again.

How To Deal With Your Fear of Failure

Our natural fear of failure and rejection manifests itself into our everyday emotional responses.

Those responses could be in the form of turning down a job offer, shying away from social interaction, or self-sabotage.

To help manage that fear, try these five strategies from mindfulness expert and CEO, Vanessa Loder:

1. Reassess and reframe your goals
2. Visualize your hurdles through writing or drawing.
3. Write down your story to embrace learning from your mistakes.
4. Ask yourself what you learned from a bad experience.
5. Allow yourself to feel fear instead of resisting it, making it “less scary” to confront.

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

Like bouncing back from a bad experience, not sweating the small stuff also feels easier said than done.

However, this advice rings true time and time again.

When we sweat the small stuff, we only continue that negative cycle of self-doubt. In turn, self-doubt manifests itself in poor body language, self-deprecation, depression, and missed opportunities.

Here are our favorite tips for not sweating the small stuff from the healthy living experts at the Huffington Post:

• Compare your current hurdle to larger ones to gain more perspective and coping skills
• Write down your worries on a piece of paper, crumple it up, and toss it in the garbage. This helps with closure.
• Address your thoughts in a non-judgemental way.
• Give yourself a set time limit to dwell and stick to it. For example, try to worry about the “small stuff” for no more than 5 minutes.

We’re only human, so it’s natural to let our emotions get the best of us, but now you have the tools to channel and apply your emotions effectively to improve your personal and professional life.