fbpx
Potentash
  • Relationships
    • The Singlehood Series
    • Dating
    • Sex
    • Parenting
  • Lifestyle
    • Home
    • Food + Beverage
    • Fashion
  • Fiction
    • Short Stories & Poetry
  • Skin + Beauty
    • Skin
      • Skincare
    • Hair
      • Haircare
  • Wellness
    • Physical Health
    • Emotional Wellness
    • Mental Wellness
    • Social Wellness
    • Spiritual Wellness
  • Business
    • Business Finance
    • Personal Finance
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Investments
    • Personal Investments
  • Travel
  • Entertainment
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
Potentash
  • Relationships
    • The Singlehood Series
    • Dating
    • Sex
    • Parenting
  • Lifestyle
    • Home
    • Food + Beverage
    • Fashion
  • Fiction
    • Short Stories & Poetry
  • Skin + Beauty
    • Skin
      • Skincare
    • Hair
      • Haircare
  • Wellness
    • Physical Health
    • Emotional Wellness
    • Mental Wellness
    • Social Wellness
    • Spiritual Wellness
  • Business
    • Business Finance
    • Personal Finance
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Investments
    • Personal Investments
  • Travel
  • Entertainment
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
Potentash
No Result
View All Result
image from https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/soft-skills/emotional-intelligence-quotient-eq/

image from https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/careers/soft-skills/emotional-intelligence-quotient-eq/

How To Develop Emotional Intelligence

Laura Ayienga by Laura Ayienga
March 27, 2020
in Relationships
Reading Time: 5 mins read
20 1
0
25
SHARES
139
VIEWS
FacebookTwitterWhatsApp

Emotional intelligence is an extremely important tool in life because it affects just about all of your interactions with people on a day to day basis. It is useful in the workplace, in our friendships and in all of our relationships.

A cousin of mine had visited us from abroad over the Christmas holidays last year. On one of the days, our extended family went to a restaurant for lunch. My cousin was only around for a short period and was trying to work around his schedule. He expressed how he wanted to visit his maternal grandparents’ upcountry before going back abroad. My aunt randomly started laughing and we all looked in her direction wondering what the problem was. “You know he has dementia,” she said as she continued to laugh, “He probably won’t even remember you. Don’t bother yourself.”

This might seem normal to you as you read this. It may have been an appropriate thing to say, but the manner in which it was delivered made us all extremely uncomfortable. My cousin had no idea that his grandfather had dementia, and this is how he got the news. I honestly wanted to stand up and walk away for fear of what would come next, but I noticed everyone looking away and shifting the conversation as fast as possible. This is a clear illustration of a lack of emotional intelligence.

By definition, emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. It helps you to empathize with what a person is feeling by predicting their feelings towards a certain subject. In the example given above, my aunt should have first understood that the news she was delivering was sad, and found a way of saying the same thing using a different mode of delivery.

That’s what emotional intelligence is about. Understanding how to deliver your information to a person without offending them. In doing so, we must also understand our own emotions, because if you don’t know how to deal with your own emotions, how will you deal with those of other people?

I can’t really blame people who lack emotional intelligence. It’s not a skill that everyone is born with. However, I believe strongly that people who lack emotional intelligence also lack self-awareness and that’s the bigger issue. Emotional intelligence is extremely important. It can be the reason why you become selected for a position career-wise. It will improve your social interactions, and you will be able to meet impactful and influential people in life.

Here are a few tips for developing your emotional intelligence.

  1. Pay attention to what people say and how they behave

One of the main reasons why people lack emotional intelligence is because they are passive in their interactions. When you don’t really pay attention and listen to people, you will never really understand what they are feeling and how it is affecting them. This means that you will not really grow as a person. Therefore, to develop your emotional intelligence, be aware of the people that you surround yourself with. Get to learn their personality and how to work around it.

  1. Maintain a positive attitude

In developing your emotional intelligence you have to have a positive attitude. In the cases that I’ve stated above, both situations stem from pessimistic points of view. However, emotional intelligence also dictates that you learn to celebrate other people’s achievements as though they are your own. Here’s where positivity comes from because in being positive, you see the best side of things and this can hardly ever offend anyone.

  1. Empathize with others

When you’re emotionally aware, you are able to put yourself in another person’s shoes. When someone gives you good or bad news, you take it as though it is happening to you, and you feel for them how you would if you were in the situation. This is the basis of emotional intelligence. If you were to win a car you would be extremely happy, therefore if you find out that a friend has won a car, you should be as happy for them as you would for yourself.

  1. Learn to take critique well

As part of developing your emotional intelligence, you must learn to accept when people correct you. Learn to identify positive criticism from people and absorb it. Most people who lack emotional intelligence are extremely defensive when they are corrected. Maturity dictates that you actually analyse what a person has told you and try to change for the better. People with high emotional intelligence will use the information to re-strategize and realign their lives such that they can constructively resolve their personal issues. How to Gracefully Take Constructive Criticism

  1. Practise self-awareness

People with low emotional intelligence are not really in tune with their feelings, because if they were, then they would be able to understand that reactions are similar most of the time and then act accordingly. This is why it’s important to understand what triggers you: What makes you happy, angry, sad or overjoyed. If you apply these same rules in your interactions with other people, you will be sure to develop your emotional intelligence.

Here are 6 Benefits Of Having Good Emotional Intelligence. 

Careers: Key Soft Skills To Add To Your LinkedIn Profile

Read about Six types of friends we all need

Share10Tweet6SendShare2Pin2
Previous Post

The Science Of Smell – Understanding The Benefits Of Aromatherapy

Next Post

Book Review: The Engagement By Kariuki Kimuyu

Laura Ayienga

Laura Ayienga

I am a passionate 22 year-old writer. I consider myself a young free-spirited soul whose personality is a mixture of introversion and extroversion. I’m a strong believer in the law of attraction. Everything is a reflection.

Next Post
image from http://www.kisauti.com/ebook/

Book Review: The Engagement By Kariuki Kimuyu

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

There are various ways to save money for your wedding. Image from http://www.punchng.com/entertainment/dreamweddings/essential-money-saving-wedding-tips-for-2014/

5 ways of raising funds for a wedding

August 11, 2015
5.4k

Charisma – By E. Alubaka Asher

March 21, 2015
77

Popular Stories

  • Couple holding a baby. Image from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/stillbirth/features/kf-black-mothers-stillbirth.html

    The Singlehood Series: Her Husband Demeaning Her For Not Having A Normal Delivery Was The Straw That Broke The Camel’s Back

    482 shares
    Share 193 Tweet 121
  • The Singlehood Series: Dating With A Chronic Illness Taught Me How To Put Myself First

    208 shares
    Share 83 Tweet 52
  • The Unexpected Love Of My Life

    282 shares
    Share 113 Tweet 71
  • The Singlehood Series: Finding Love On A Girls’ Trip

    643 shares
    Share 257 Tweet 161
  • After 2 Years Of Raising My Daughter I Found Out I Wasn’t Her Father

    2465 shares
    Share 986 Tweet 616

Potentash Blog

Potentash

Potentash is an award-winning lifestyle blog. We publish lifestyle content that intersects with health, women, beauty, travel, business, relationships, finances and entertainment.

Categories

  • Ethics Statement
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2022. Potentash, In Partnership with Decima

  • Login
No Result
View All Result
  • Relationships
    • The Singlehood Series
    • Dating
    • Sex
    • Parenting
  • Lifestyle
    • Home
    • Food + Beverage
    • Fashion
  • Fiction
    • Short Stories & Poetry
  • Skin + Beauty
    • Skin
      • Skincare
    • Hair
      • Haircare
  • Wellness
    • Physical Health
    • Emotional Wellness
    • Mental Wellness
    • Social Wellness
    • Spiritual Wellness
  • Business
    • Business Finance
    • Personal Finance
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Investments
    • Personal Investments
  • Travel
  • Entertainment

Copyright © 2022. Potentash, In Partnership with Decima

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Linked In
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In