“In a very real sense we have two minds, one that thinks and one that feels” ― Daniel Goleman
Welcome to Blog 70! It is all about EQ and a change from our regular format. Covering EQ sparked so much conversation that to thank everyone I am sharing this short quiz. Quizzes highlight things you might not think about much as they spark self-reflection. You can test yourself on self-awareness, self-control and empathy. To get the most out of it, please answer honestly.
Quiz link: https://arf55j22thy.typeform.com/to/bZl1fVdV
Why you should take the quiz and share with your friends
Whilst technical qualifications and exam success can provide you feedback on your IQ, we rarely have a way to gauge our EQ. I hope this is fun and informative.
About the Quiz
This will take you 7 minutes if you take it slowly. The multiple choice questions have been put together to be straightforward. I would recommend not overthinking the answers.
Once you have completed the quiz you will receive a test score. You'll given a category 'beginner', 'intermediate' and 'advanced'.
Join our community
You will have the opportunity to sign up for my weekly blog, where I share digestible insights from my research. Join the community for exclusive content and to make suggestions on what I should cover next.
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotions make us 'feel' something. They help us survive and respond to changing environments. Emotions play a crucial role in our lives, alerting us to the significance of events and helping us make decisions. They are a blend of nature and nurture, shaped by personal experiences.
While emotions can enhance the efficiency and accuracy of decision-making by allowing us to draw on past experiences and quickly assess options, they can also misfire. In extreme cases they can lead to phobias or panic attacks. While emotions provide us with an imperative to act, it is important to evaluate and sense-check them to ensure they align with the reality of the situation at hand.
Having mastery of your emotions is called emotional intelligence and it rests upon three pillars: self-awareness, self-control and empathy.
The EQ tripod
1) Self-awareness is a process of trying to understand what you feel and why you might feel it. You try and observe how you feel and relate it to the situation at hand. Self-awareness is better than suppressing your thoughts. Suppressing thoughts only stores up problems for later.
2) Self-control is when you respond appropriately to the situation in front of you. Self-control in practice means neither overreacting or underreacting. One example of self-control is resisting an urge when you feel your reaction would be damaging. Another example would be providing the necessary energy to a situation (e.g. praise or concern) when you feel a bit flat.
3) Practicing empathy is sensing the emotions of others and imagining what someone else is feeling. In practice this is a mosaic of cues and background or spoken information. Empathy is a powerful way to get someone's perspective.
The benefits of Emotional Intelligence
By building on the three pillars a number of positive traits emerge.
To find out more please visit the EQ series summary which also has links to the long-form work on EQ.
Comments