Emotional Intelligence (EI) is one of the new buzzwords. It’s actually been around for quite some time. It was first mentioned in an article in the 60s, but it really became popular when a book by that name was published in the 90s. EI is certainly very relevant nowadays. Trying to figure out how to get ahead, how to teach kids to be better or rather more successful than their parents and prepare them for the “real world”, we have certainly coined the phrase.

It has even been identified as one of the major aspects in predicting success, especially when looking at potential employees in the job market. In our technologically advanced age, it is far more important to be emotionally savvy than just be very clever. Nowadays, your EI (also called your Emotional Quotient) by far outranks your Intelligence Quotient when looking for stable competent workforce or colleagues. So work on the way you handle feelings and emotions, rather working on trying to improve your intelligence.

We need to be able to know, be in control, manage and handle our feelings to function and deal with people around us at our optimal level. EI has been known to be beneficial for mental health, job performance and leadership skills. It is almost more important than having technical skills. Nowadays, when basically any information we seek is readily available through the internet, our dealings with people have taken on a far greater role.

In our everyday life, be it at home, at work or with friends, we should be able to recognise, understand and react in a positive way to all our emotions and feelings in order to function optimally and be the best individual we can be.

If you have a good EI, you should:

• be mindful – know your own and be sensitive to others’ feelings
• be resilient – be confident and self-reliant with all your own feelings, so you can stand up to bullying in any way or form.
• be confident and consistent in your dealings with people
• know how to react when faced with a negative situation
• be able to see the whole picture – this is possibly more being mindful, but also don’t sweat the small stuff, rather see every situation in its entirety
• know your own feelings and be in control of them.

Simply put, EI is a way to employ your intelligence creatively for maximum benefit to yourself and others.

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