ARE YOU EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT?

Emotional Intelligence is the capacity to perceive, control and express one’s emotions, and to decode and respond appropriately to the emotions of others. Emotional Intelligence makes people become leaders who have high stress tolerance and calm under pressure. It makes us become sympathetic, caring, and empathic leaders. 

While Intelligent Quotient, popularly known as IQ accounts for only 20% of life’s success, the major predictor of life’s success is EQ, that is, Emotional Quotient also known as Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence is a “meta-ability,” determining how well we can use our other intelligences, skills and abilities. It is established that those with high Emotional Intelligence are more likely to be effective in their lives; that they are able to excel in many domains of life, whether in corporate settings or in an intimate relationship.  Emotional Intelligence is the strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence. it is worthy to note that “CEOs (and directors) are hired for their intellect and business expertise, and also fired for a lack of Emotional Quotient.

How to increase your Emotional Intelligence

1. Keep your stress level under control!
2. Develop Emotional Agility: Emotional agility being flexible with your thoughts and feelings so that you can respond optimally to everyday situations.
3.  Get more sleep
4. Create time for Sports and Exercise
5. Manage your Anger
6. Pay Attention to Body Language
7. Develop a consciousness of gratitude

Emotional Intelligence also deals with the management of anger. The emotion of anger which is propelled by a part of the brain called the Amygdala must be managed by one who desires to be successful. He who can control the Amygdala will be emotionally Intelligent, but the lack of control leads to Emotional Hijacking. An emotional hijack refers to a situation in which the amygdala, the part of the brain that serves as our emotional processor, hijacks or bypasses your normal reasoning process. You see, while much of your decision making takes place in other parts of the brain, scientists recognize the amygdala’s propensity to take over in certain circumstances. At times, this is a good thing: In the case of a real emergency, the amygdala can give you the courage to defend your loved ones against an attacker who’s bigger or stronger than you. But it can also move you to engage in risky, irrational, and even dangerous behaviour in everyday situations. During an emotional hijack, our thinking brain gets paralyzed, which means our IQ drops, we lose the ability to make complex decisions, we no longer see other perspectives and our memory becomes compromised.

Anger is the most seductive of all emotions. According to Aristotle, “Anyone can become angry… But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not easy”.

Anger management techniques

1. Keep quiet

 2. Practice impulse control: A. Smile B. Take a deep breath C. Count to 10 – 100

3. Meditate

4. Sing a song

5. Walk away

6. Exercise

7. Think of something funny

8. Play your favourite music

9. Think of the important things in your life.

#MEMBA 11