We all know what IQ is. Generally speaking we associate an high IQ with an intelligent person. There is also something called emotional intelligence.
What is the difference between the two and why is emotional intelligence more important than IQ?

Your emotional intelligence or EQ refers to your emotional abilities and social skills. Some characteristics are empathy, emotional regulation and motivation.
IQ on the other hand measures your intellectual and cognitive skills, like memory, analytical thinking and knowledge retention.

Most people talk about IQ all the time and neglect EQ completely.
Yes, you need a certain level of IQ if you want to be successful in life but I’d argue that emotional intelligence is more important in business and on a daily basis.

EQ vs. IQ

When we talk about emotional intelligence we talk about so called “people skills”.
Reading people, reading situations and having an understanding of basic human behavior are key when it comes to dealing with people successfully.

Most great things can’t be achieved alone. They require a group of people working together.
If there is no empathy and understanding of emotions it can never work.

We all know those highly intelligent people who have a very hard time getting along with others. Most likely they having very low emotional intelligence.
There are people on the other hand who don’t have the highest IQ or the highest education but they have an easy time dealing with people and building important relationships with others.

Emotional intelligence is not just about reading others though.
It’s also about understanding your own emotions.

Emotional intelligence

1. Self-awareness

2. Self-management

3. Social-awareness

4. Relationship management
   

Self-awareness:
When it comes to understanding or improving something, self-awareness is usually almost the first step. You can only become good at reading, managing and addressing others once you master the art of understanding yourself.
If you want to improve your emotional intelligence you have to understand your feelings and your own behavior first.
The way it works is you have to analyze your behavior and emotions in certain situations.
Observe the situations that make you feel a particular way. If you feel that you’re getting angry, sad, happy or frustrated you have to stop and ask yourself: “Why am I feeling that way right now?”
That is the way to go when it comes to understanding your own emotions.

Self-management:
Self-management is an art that most people never master.
It is about managing and controlling your own emotions. Most people love to explode when they are angry or stressed. Especially in the workplace it is so easy to spot someone who is being very emotional. Stress and anger are very easily detectable.
I believe letting your emotions get the better of you is a weakness. The strongest people in the world don’t get bothered or at least they don’t show it.
You have to remember, no one can make you angry, sad, happy or frustrated. There are only things that people can say or do. It’s your choice how you view them and how you’re letting them change your emotional state.

Social-awareness:
Once you have mastered self-awareness and you are in control over your own emotions the next step is to understand what people are feeling and why they are behaving in a certain way. Most of us are quite good at reading emotions.
Anger, sadness or happiness are easily detectable. Most of us don’t even need to learn about body language or about reading micro expressions. Recognizing those emotions comes natural to us.
If you want to read other people you have to observe, look closely and listen carefully to what they are saying, what it means and what they are doing.


Relationship management:
Last but not least we have relationship management.
It’s not enough to know what others are going through. You also have to treat them in a particular way depending on their emotional state.
Sometimes you have to be more patient when someone is angry. Other times you have to show more empathy and understanding towards others.
Empathy and emotional intelligence is about knowing what to say, what to do and how to act in different situations and with different people.

In conclusion

You need a certain level of IQ in life. After that emotional intelligence is far more important.
If you master the ability of reading people, you’ll know how they feel. Afterwards, you’re going to have an easier time finding out what it was, that made them feel that way.
The first step towards improving emotional intelligence is to understand yourself. In order to read others you have to learn about your personal triggers and emotions first. Only self awareness will allow you to control your emotions.
In order to be successful and to get along with different characters you have to improve your emotional intelligence.
Someone with an high EQ will get along with almost everyone.
That doesn’t mean that you have to be fake but you can’t treat everyone you meet the same or address every situations in the same way and expect it to work.

Thank you for reading.