Emotional Intelligence (EI), a concept that popularized Daniel Goleman is the ability to identify, understand and regulate one’s own emotions and those of others.
There is a lot of research that has demonstrated its benefits, and this has meant that for just over two decades it has been applied in both the work, educational and clinical environments.
But what are these benefits? Why is emotional intelligence important for people? In today’s article we explain it to you. It will be up to you to put these tips and suggestions into practice, and benefit from a better quality of life.
Let us begin.
1. Improves self-knowledge and decision making
He self-knowledge It has a positive effect on self-esteem and self-confidence in different everyday situations. Also allows people to evaluate their value system and beliefs helps detect strengths and weaknesses in order to improve and is necessary to make better decisions in life.
An aspect that is part of emotional intelligence is self-knowledge. Therefore, improving emotional intelligence means improving self-knowledge.
2. Improves work performance
Emotional intelligence applied to work is extremely useful in different aspects. For example, improves employee productivity, improves occupational health, improves customer service, etc. And we must not forget that recognizing one’s own emotions helps to approach conflicts in a more constructive way and with an eye on medium and long-term goals, without giving all the credit or importance to those impulses that we feel in a situation. concrete in, for example, a discussion. This is also highly valued when generating a correct organizational climate.
Correct emotional management is as important to protect stress as to not cause it. Imagine a work situation in which a lack of empathy and poor regulation of one’s emotions causes continuous arguments with your boss or a coworker. In the long run, these discussions can create a bad work environment, and, as a consequence, a stressful environment.
Now imagine that you are the boss, and that poor emotional management makes you a poorly tolerant person. It is clear that your subordinates are going to suffer from your lack of emotional control, which can become a stressor for the workers you manage. That’s why It is important to enjoy an environment with emotional intelligence, to protect ourselves from the wear and tear of everyday work
4. Improves interpersonal relationships
Returning to the previous point, the example shows that emotional intelligence is decisive for maintaining healthy interpersonal relationships. Knowing and understanding your own emotions and those of others helps you handle conflicts better something that may be inevitable when we live with other people.
Also, remember that relationships are usually a constant negotiation, and maintaining emotional balance in those situations that can easily get out of hand usually avoids a lot of pain and misunderstandings.
5. Promotes personal development
Emotional intelligence and personal development go hand in hand. In fact, coaches, that is, experts in personal development, provide emotional intelligence tools to coachees since the personal development of an individual cannot be understood without correct self-knowledge and management of one’s own emotions.
6. Provides influence and leadership capacity
emotional intelligence It is an essential competence of leaders The leader’s own emotional self-control or knowing how to understand others are a good demonstration of leadership skills.
In fact, many charismatic leaders, those who have high emotional intelligence, such as the transformational leader, have proven to be the most efficient leaders in many researches, as they motivate and increase the productivity and efficiency of the group.
7. Promotes psychological well-being
In recent years Interest in emotional intelligence is growing thanks to the benefits it provides for psychological well-being Many current pathologies have to do with correct emotional management, and for this reason, it is applied as a therapeutic method.
Now, it is not only used with adults, but in many schools it is taught with emotional intelligence, since educational centers are increasingly aware of the importance that EI has for the emotional health of students.
8. Reduces anxiety and helps overcome depression
Many people suffer from anxiety due to a negative evaluation of reality or incorrect control of emotions, and emotional intelligence can help prevent anxious symptoms.
Various investigations have shown that high scores on the questionnaire Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS), developed by Salovey in 1995, which includes three dimensions, (1) attention to feelings, (2) emotional clarity and (3) emotional repair, are associated with higher levels of life satisfaction and lower levels of anxiety
9. Increases motivation and helps achieve goals
Several studies have shown that emotional intelligence It is extremely important when it comes to achieving our goals, and, in fact, coaches use it to motivate their clients
Emotional intelligence protects us in difficult situations, because self-knowledge can keep us afloat even when we want to give up or throw in the towel. For example, if we detect and know that feelings of frustration are part of life, it is possible for us to move forward even if everything has not turned out as we wanted.
Improving well-being and emotional balance is positive for falling asleep. It is common for poor management of emotions to cause anxiety and create problems for us on a daily basis. All of this is negative for our mental and physical health, and influences our sleep
Managing our emotions in the appropriate way, accepting our negative emotions, understanding the emotions of others and regulating our behavior is key to having a peaceful sleep and a life without major ups and downs.
