Emotional intelligence is having the ability to be self aware. It is important for us to understand how and why we feel emotions, and how our actions and decisions are influenced by what’s going on within us. Self awareness makes handing difficult situations easier by providing clarity for the circumstance we are in and giving us an informed basis from which we can make emotionally informed decisions.
IQ is rooted in measuring the quantitive aspects of our intelligence using measures that have a “right answer.” IQ measures logic based skills that can be measured using standard tests that involve testing a person’s logic, visual and spatial processing, reasoning and memory. EQ is rooted in measuring the qualitative aspects our our intelligence using observations of self awareness, understanding and controlling our emotions, showing empathy in how we relate to others and being able to make informed decisions within emotionally distressing circumstances.
Being self aware of our emotions and how we feel in different circumstances is important to all aspects of our life. Quite often we find ourselves in situations that cause negative emotions and distress that skews our ability to make good decisions. If the circumstance is distressing enough, our IQ may not be enough to navigate through the situation alone, and quite often we find ourselves doing the opposite of what we consider to be logical. On the other hand we may navigate our careers using IQ to achieve bigger and better promotions but fail to be self aware enough to understand that the path we are taking is detrimental to our inner self and what we really want to do. Understanding our positive emotions allows us to align our actions, career and life towards what makes us happy. We cannot possibly hope to achieve this alignment without first understanding ourselves.