Think of a person you know who stays calm in times of stress, no matter what they're going through, or someone you can talk to with confidence and who always makes decisions after careful consideration. If the person you're thinking of has these characteristics, they most likely have emotional intelligence . If you want to know what emotional intelligence is according to Daniel Goleman, keep reading this article.
Emotional intelligence is related to the ability to recognize emotions, both one's own and those of others, and to be able to manage one's response to them. Emotional intelligence gives us tools that allow us to better adapt to changes. It also has to do with self-confidence and self-assurance, the ability to control emotions, and self-motivation to achieve goals.
If we understand our emotions, we will know how to manage them and, therefore, we can exert an influence on our environment to achieve positive changes. Emotions trigger an action or response to a certain event, and these responses are usually automatic. Emotional intelligence controls this stimulus to respond instead of react. This means that we can manage the response to a stimulus.
We cannot choose which emotions we will feel, because we cannot control emotions, but we can decide what we want to do with them. Emotions always drive us to action, and these actions are what determine the outcome. If we are able to choose our actions, we will most likely have different outcomes.
How does emotional intelligence help us? It helps us improve the way we relate to others. If we have good relationships, we can improve our quality of life.
Who is Daniel Goleman?
Daniel Goleman is the reference author for this topic, his book '' Emotional Intelligence '' contributes to the field of science research on the influence of emotions in our lives.
The author argues that emotional competencies are divided into two categories: intrapersonal and interpersonal. The first refers to the relationship we have with ourselves and the second to the relationships we establish with others.
Daniel Goleman is a renowned researcher, a graduate of anthropology from the University of Massachusetts, and earned a PhD from Harvard University. His book was on the New York Times bestseller list for a year and a half, selling more than five million copies worldwide.
He specialized in writing about behavioral and brain sciences for the famous New York Times and was a professor of psychology for many years.
What are the characteristics of Daniel Goleman's emotional intelligence?
The author defines that within his approach to emotional intelligence there are 4 basic dimensions that compose it:
1. Emotional self-awareness
It is the ability to understand what we feel, to always be connected with our values and emotions. This allows us to guide ourselves along the most correct path, always taking into account other realities, respecting and knowing how to act accordingly.
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2. Self-motivation
Self-motivation is the ability that helps us guide ourselves to our goals and objectives. If setbacks arise, we can recover and return to the focus of our personal goals. It is based on optimism, perseverance, creativity and confidence to overcome any adversity and difficulty to achieve the objectives.
3. Empathy
Empathy will allow us to establish strong bonds, social ties and deeper coexistence with others. In addition, we will be able to recognize the emotions and feelings of others to understand each other's reality. We will know what to say and when to say it, use an appropriate tone of voice, with certain postures and expressions to help us connect with what the other person is feeling.
4. Social skills
The ability to relate to others and communicate effectively is part of social skills. This strengthens relationships in work environments, as a couple, with family and friends, creating comfortable and safe spaces.
These four areas mentioned above by Goleman make up what would be emotional intelligence . Each one must be well developed for effective emotional intelligence. If this is not done, we could have a person or, in the workplace, a leader who has emotional self-awareness, but lacks empathy, that is, is not able to understand others, which would harm their work performance.
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Learn to enhance your emotional intelligence
We can all develop and enhance emotional intelligence . Goleman explains that this ability or capacity is within us. This means that it can be activated and deactivated, depending on our emotional environment, social context and the education we receive.
If we want to master the 4 areas mentioned above, we recommend the following:
The first thing is to have will, perseverance and real awareness to apply it in daily life:
✅ It is necessary to detect the emotion behind each of our actions.
✅ Be aware of your emotional language: sometimes it is not enough to say “I am angry”, you have to be more specific. “I am angry, I don’t know what to do and I feel uncomfortable.”
✅ What you think must pass through a filter to control how you behave.
✅ Find an explanation for the behavior of others, be able to understand other people's actions and emotions.
✅ Express yourself assertively.
✅ Work on your social skills.
Now that you know about Daniel Goleman's emotional intelligence and would like to delve deeper into the topic, you can visit our articles on What is emotional intelligence? or types of emotional intelligence.
Here we will give you an even broader view of the topic so that you can put emotional intelligence into practice. Remember that we can all develop it and without a doubt, it will help improve the way you relate to yourself and to others.
Furthermore, this ability is essential in the professional field, especially if you hold a leadership position, to improve your relationships and form committed work teams. We recommend complementing this with another closely related topic, which is assertive communication examples.
Courses that may interest you
Do you want to learn about the most valuable tools for personal development? We recommend our Mindfulness and Wellbeing courses: Revolutionize Your Business, Assertive Communication and Effective Communication, so that you can make the most of other skills.
