Emotional Intelligence Essay

The book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, provides an alternative approach to how a person achieves success. This book does not focus on the conventional determinant of success, such as formal education and training, experience, and intelligence level (IQ). Although all these components contribute greatly to ones achievement of success, these factors are not the only factors to be considered in whether a person will be successful or not. This book focuses on the concept that it refers to as emotional intelligence (EQ), which is one’s ability to recognize and effectively understand his/her emotions in a productive and rational manner. The objective of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is to educate people on suppressing their natural willingness to succumb to their feelings or emotions. The author states, â€Å"The physical pathway for emotional intelligence starts in the brain, at the spinal cord. Your primary senses enter here and must travel to the front of your brain before you can think rationally about your experience. But first they travel through the limbic system, the place where emotions are experienced. Emotional intelligence requires effective communication between the rational and emotional centers of the brain† (p. 7). Overall, people have to learn to deal with or work through the emotional phase of the thinking process and resist making â€Å"knee jerk† decisions based on their feelings at a given moment. By increasing their EQ, people are more proficient in making sound rational decisions when they are emotional. One may ask. How do you determine your level of emotional intelligence (EQ)? This is accomplished by an individual taking the â€Å"Emotional Intelligence Appraisal† test. Completing this test is the first step to determining and improving your EQ. Your individual EQ report provides you with a synopsis of your current EQ level, the EQ skills you need to improve, and the strategy(s) that will be most beneficial to increasing your EQ. In addition to this information, your EQ report allows you to compare your scores with others around the world. Also, you are given the opportunity to take the â€Å" Emotional Intelligence Appraisal† test a second time to see how you have improved your EQ and receive feedback report allows you to see your accomplishments and outline the next steps of your progression. The author states, â€Å"Emotional intelligence is your ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this  awareness to manage your behavior and relationships† (p. 17). EQ lays the foundation for many skills, such as, time management, communication, assertiveness, customer service, anger management, stress tolerance, and many other aspects of our life each day. Although our emotions will play an eminent role in our daily life, improved EQ skills will teach us to better control our emotions and keep our emotions from controlling our actions or behaviors. Additionally, we will learn how to better interact with others and build better and stronger relationships. While emotional intelligence is vital to human behavior, it only accounts for a portion of a person as a whole. The author states, â€Å"IQ, personality, and EQ are distinct qualities we all possess. Together, they determine how we think and act. It is impossible to predict one based upon another. People may be intelligent but not emotionally intelligent, and people of all types of personalities can be high in EQ and/or IQ. Of the three, EQ is the only quality that is flexible and able to change† (p. 19). There is no know link between these three components that exist in a person, but each component coexists and works together to guide this person’s thoughts and behaviors. Unlike EQ, a person’s capacity to learn and personality are hardwired or ingrained over time. Emotional intelligence is a skill that is flexible and can be improved with guidance and practice. There are four core emotional intelligence skills. These four skills are divided into two categories: personal competence and social competence. Personal competence is centered on the individual, and it is made up of your self-awareness and self-managements skills. Self-awareness is your ability to recognize and understand how and why you typically behave or react a certain way. It is becoming comfortable dealing with both positive and negative emotions. Self-management is an extension of personal-awareness. It is using your awareness to guide your actions in a positive direction. Social competence focuses on your interaction with other people, and it consists of social awareness and relationship management skills. Social awareness is your ability to recognize and understand others emotions. It is noticing how others are feeling and thinking, even if it differs from your own. Relationship management is the capacity to use the knowledge and understanding of both your emotions and the emotions of others to connect with others. Although each of these EQ skills are evaluated separately and  can be improved individually, theses skills work collectively to increase your EQ level and improve your emotional intelligence overall.