Emotional Intelligence 2.0

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 explains what Emotional Intelligence is and how you can use it to build fantastic relationships in your personal life and career by utilizing the powers of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

If you want to improve your EQ, you need to know there are four basic components. First is self-awareness. This is the ability to understand both your feelings and behaviors. When you are self-aware, you know why you feel a certain way. This means you don’t have to become overwhelmed with your emotions.

Second is self-management, which means keeping yourself in situations where you can behave properly.

Third is social awareness. The author explains that once you understand your own emotions, you can start to understand if others around you are mad, sad, or excited. You will be able to take cues from their body language.

Fourth is relationship management.  When you understand both yourself and the people around you, you are finally able to build strong relationships in your life.

For example, if you recognize your co-worker reacts badly to criticism, you can find different ways to give feedback. This will in turn improve your relationship.

A big part of self-management is learning to balance your logical and emotional sides. One way you can do this is by making an emotion vs. reason list.

For this draw two columns. In the first column, write what your emotions want you to do. In the second column, write down what logical reasoning tells you to do.  This exercise will help you keep both sides balanced so one doesn’t dominate over the other.

When you compare them, take note of which side has the stronger points. You might realize maybe your emotions are clouding your judgment. Or other times, there can be holes in your logic.

For an example of a situation you can use this in, imagine you have an employee who you like a lot, but he isn’t great at his job. You are considering firing him, and you can use the emotion vs reason list to sort out what the best course of action is.

Another way to improve your self-management is to let family and friends know what your goals are. They can help you stay on track. Having someone to be accountable to is a great source of motivation.

The author teaches that a core part of EQ is the ability to build maintain strong relationships. One way you can do this is by checking your body language to make sure you aren’t sending mixed signals. Not just your voice but your body and your behavior convey a lot about how you feel, so make sure you’re sending the right signals.…