12 Aug Increase your emotional intelligence with this 1 simple question
Happiness isn’t feeling good ALL the time.
Happiness is about enjoying the good times; but happiness is also about managing and/or responding effectively to the tough times.
To be happy, therefore, one needs an awareness of one’s emotions and a repertoire of coping strategies. That is, emotional intelligence…
via Inc.com by Justin Bariso
When Daniel Goleman published Emotional Intelligence in 1995, few had heard of the concept. The idea was primarily based on a theory formed by two psychologists, John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey, who claimed that just as people have a wide range of intellectual abilities, they also have a wide range of emotional skills that profoundly affect their thinking and actions.
Fast-forward to today, and emotional intelligence is experiencing a resurgence. Almost everywhere you look, you’ll see references to EQ, short for emotional intelligence quotient, a term that has become popular and easily recognizable in multiple languages.
But what exactly is emotional intelligence? And, equally important, how can you increase yours?
In their original article, Mayer and Salovey provided the following definition:
Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions.
Notice that emotional intelligence emphasizes practical use. It’s not just knowledge about emotions and how they work; it’s an individual’s ability to apply that knowledge to manage his or her own behavior or relationships with others, to attain a desired result.
Put more simply: Emotional intelligence is the ability to make emotions work for you, instead of against you.
The 1-question test
There are many tests out there that claim to measure emotional intelligence.
I won’t say these tests are junk, but their value is limited: They may give you an idea as to how much you know about emotions and their effect on behavior, but they can’t evaluate your ability to put that knowledge to work in everyday situations.
Rather than trying to quantify your emotional intelligence, it’s more productive to focus on developing a growth mindset.
To accomplish that, I recommend giving yourself a simple, 1-question test:
In what situations do I find that emotions work against me?
There are many ways you could answer that question…
…keep reading the full & original article HERE