The 10 benefits of emotional intelligence

The Emotional Intelligence (EI), a concept that he popularized Daniel goleman, is the ability to identify, understand and regulate one's own emotions and those of others.

There are many investigations that have demonstrated its benefits, and this has meant that for just over two decades it has been applied so much in the work environment As the educational or the clinical.

Benefits of emotional intelligence

But what are these benefits? Why is emotional intelligence important to people? In today's article we explain it to you. It will be up to you to put these tips and suggestions into practice, and benefit from a better quality of life.

Let us begin.

1. Improves self-awareness and decision-making

The self-knowledge have a positive effect on self-esteem and about self-confidence in different everyday situations. Also allows people to evaluate their value system and beliefs, helps to detect strengths and weaknesses in order to improve and is necessary to make better decisions in life.

One aspect that is part of emotional intelligence is self-knowledge. Therefore, improving emotional intelligence is improving self-knowledge.

2. Improves work performance

Emotional intelligence applied to work is extremely useful in different ways. For example, improves employee productivity, improves occupational health, improves customer service, etc.

• If you want to know more about the benefits of emotional intelligence at work, you can read our article: " The benefits of emotional intelligence at work”

3. Protect and avoid stress

The correct one emotional management it is as important to protect stress as not to cause it. Imagine a work situation in which a lack of empathy and poor regulation of your own emotions leads to ongoing arguments with your boss or a co-worker. In the long run, these discussions can create a bad work environment, and as a consequence, a stressful environment.

Now imagine that you are the boss, and that emotional mismanagement makes you a very tolerant person. It is clear that your subordinates are going to suffer from your emotional lack of control, which can become a stressor for the workers you manage. So it is important to enjoy an environment with emotional intelligence, to protect ourselves from the wear and tear of the day-to-day work.

4. Improve interpersonal relationships

Returning to the previous point, the example shows that emotional intelligence is essential to maintain healthy interpersonal relationships. Knowing and understanding your own emotions and those of others helps you better deal with conflicts, something that can be unavoidable when we live with other people.

Also, remember that relationships are usually a constant negotiation, and maintain balance emotional in those situations that can easily get out of hand usually avoid a lot of pain and bad understood.

5. Promotes personal development

Emotional intelligence and Personal development They go hand in hand. In fact, coachs, that is, the experts in personal development, provide emotional intelligence tools to coachees, because the personal development of an individual cannot be understood without the correct self-knowledge and the management of their own emotions.

6. Grants the ability to influence and leadership

Emotional intelligence is an essential competence of leaders. The leader's own emotional self-control or knowing how to understand others are a good demonstration of leadership skills.

In fact, many charismatic leaders, those with high emotional intelligence, such as the transformational leader, have proven to be the most efficient leaders in many investigations, as they motivate and increase the productivity and efficiency of the group.

7. Promotes psychological well-being

In recent years Interest in emotional intelligence is growing thanks to the benefits it brings to psychological well-being. Many pathologies of today have to do with the correct emotional management, and therefore, it is applied as a therapeutic method.

However, it is not only used with adults, but in many schools it is educated with emotional intelligence, since educational centers are increasingly aware of the importance that EI has for the emotional health of children. students.

8. Reduces anxiety and helps overcome depression

Many people suffer from anxiety due to a negative assessment of reality or improper control of emotions, and emotional intelligence can help prevent anxiety symptoms.

Research has shown that high scores on the questionnaire Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS), developed by Salovey in 1995, which includes three dimensions, (1) attention to feelings, (2) emotional clarity Y (3) emotional repair, are associated with higher levels of life satisfaction and lower levels of anxiety.

9. Increases motivation and helps achieve goals

Several studies have shown that emotional intelligence it is extremely important when it comes to achieving our goals, and, in fact, coaches use it to motivate their clients.

Emotional intelligence protects us in difficult situations, because self-knowledge can keep us afloat even when we want to give up or throw in the towel. For example, if we detect and know that feelings of frustration are part of life, we may move on even if not everything has turned out as we wanted.

10. Helps you sleep better

Improved well-being and emotional balance it is positive to be able to fall asleep. It is common for the mismanagement of emotions to cause us anxiety and generate problems for our day to day. All this is negative for our mental and physical health, and influences our sleep.

Managing our emotions in the proper way, accepting our negative emotions, understanding the emotions of others and regulating our behavior, it is key to have a peaceful sleep and a life without great ups and downs.