Why Enhance Your Emotional Quotient

Why Enhance Your Emotional Quotient

There was a time when parents and educators went gaga over intelligence quotient or IQ. Today, these same people have become more interested in promoting emotional quotient or EQ.

While a person‘s intelligence quotient can be measured in the numbers game, his emotional quotient can be determined by his ability to survive life’s emotional ups and downs.

Emotional intelligence refer to a person’s ability to take stock of his own emotions, as well as the emotions of other people, and the power to use such emotions to survive life’s challenges.

Some people possess average intelligence, yet they have an adequate amount and combination of emotional skills that eventually helped them succeed in life. On the other hand, some people are highly intelligent, but without proper emotional skills, they failed at the day-to-day challenges of life.

Peter Salovey (Dean of Yale College) and John Mayer devised the term emotional intelligence in the 1990s. However, many agree that Daniel Goleman created the term ‘emotional quotient’ as popularized by his book entitled “Emotional Intelligence.” The book became a bestseller and turned Goleman into a famous multimillionaire. Despite having written the renowned book on emotional literacy, he owed idea of emotional intelligence from Salovey and Mayer through their earlier work.

Goleman believes that emotional intelligence is more important than intellectual quotient. According to him, the former has a bigger contribution to a person‘s success in life compared to the 20 percent input of intelligence quotient. While IQ is equated with a person’s intellectual skills, EQ is equated with a person‘s social skills and to the ability to motivate himself or other people. It is the ability to love, feel, hope, rise above despair, and will anything.

A highly intelligent person does not automatically possess a high emotional intelligence. To increase one’s chances for success in life, a person needs to possess high levels of both intellectual and emotional quotient.

A person with high emotional intelligence is said to be more aware of himself and his capacity to do anything. He is more capable of rising above frustrations in life. A person who is emotionally intelligent can very well manage his moods and motivate himself to feel the appropriate emotions that would help him survive life’s difficulties.

A highly intelligent person may possess all the verbal and numerical skills; but if he does not develop his emotional skills, then he would not be able to deal with the ever-changing social environment. Every person needs to be with his fellow social beings. He has to learn how to balance his intelligence with the ability to cooperate and to deal with other people who may not necessarily behave the way he wants them to. He must also adapt to certain circumstances that he has no control of.

Intelligent people easily succumb to life’s trials because they think that their minds can control their life. The truth is that mere intelligence without emotional maturity will not get a person very far in life.

Emotional intelligence is really just the ability to cope with whatever it is that life brings. One can start out with a low emotional quotient; but with time, effort, and determination, a person will be able to achieve the emotional maturity that will help him go through life’s rough times.