Conventional wisdom has it that there's a direct connection between our IQ and our ability to succeed in life. In school, we're ranked by our GPA. At certain points in grade school, students are given standardized tests that rank them against other students around the country. Schools are obsessed with how their students rank compared to others. A requirement for most colleges is a satisfactory score on the SAT or ACT exam. These tests are basic IQ tests, designed to gauge our math skills and reading comprehension.
But there have been many studies that show IQ only accounts for about 20% of success. The major determinants of success are social and emotional intelligence. Yet there's very little emphasis put on developing emotional intelligence. Only a handful of schools have any formal programs that address emotional intelligence.
We have an emotional mind and a rational mind. In large part, our emotional mind developed to help us survive. When man first wandered the earth, any time he encountered some new experience he needed to make instant decisions about whether the encounter involved something he could eat or something that might try to eat him. Relying on the rational mind, which works much slower than the emotional mind, might have meant the end of mankind. The emotional mind springs into action more quickly than the rational mind. But unless we learn to control the emotional mind, we will make lots of bad decisions and poor choices.
Top 5 Reasons EQ Determines Success in Life
Our emotional intelligence has such a large impact on our success in life, it's important that we fully develop our emotional skills. Here are the top five reasons why your emotional intelligence determines your success in life.
1. EQ has a greater impact on success than other factors.
It has been said that your IQ can land you a job, but your lack of EQ can get you fired. Your IQ only accounts for 20% of your success in life. Your emotional intelligence and social intelligence are much greater determinants of the success you will achieve in life.
2. The ability to delay gratification is a primary indicator of future success.
Delayed gratification is the top predictor of future success. People who are able to pay the price today and delay the rewards are much more likely to succeed in life. Unfortunately we have become a nation seeking instant gratification. This shows up in our everyday lives in the foods we choose to eat, the buy-now-pay-later way of life, our difficulty in adhering to an exercise regimen, and putting mindless entertainment ahead of self-development.
3. High EQ leads to healthy relationships with others.
Our emotional skills have a direct and important bearing on our relationships with others. We need to understand our feelings, where they come from, and how to properly express them. We will not maintain healthy relationships unless we can control our emotions, communicate our feelings in a constructive manner, and understand the feelings of others.
4. Emotional health impacts physical health.
There is a direct connection between our emotional health and our physical health. If our lives are filled with stress, our physical health suffers. It has been estimated that well over 80% of our health problems are stress-related. We experience stress primarily because we are not comfortable emotionally. We need to understand the link between our emotional health and our physical health.
5. Poor EQ is linked to crime and other unethical behaviors.
Unfortunately, there's a direct connection between poor emotional skills and the rising crime rate. Children who have poor emotional skills become social outcasts at a very young age. They might become the class bully because of a hot temper. They may have learned to react with fists rather than with reason. Poor social and emotional skills contribute to poor attention in class as well as feelings of frustration. Such students rapidly fall behind in school, and may tend to make friends with others in the same boat. The path to crime starts early in life. While there's no doubt that family and environment are strong contributors, the common thread is poor emotional and social skills.
This is one case where an ounce of prevention would certainly be worth a pound of cure. The cost of intervention when a child is in grade school is minor compared to the cost of jailing them in their teens and twenties.
How Do We Develop Emotional Intelligence?
We need to know our emotions. We need to develop self-awareness—the ability to recognize feelings as they happen.
We must learn how to manage our emotions. Unless we learn to manage our emotions we will constantly be battling feelings of gloom and distress.
We must learn to motivate ourselves, learn emotional self-control, and delay gratification.
If we are to succeed in life, we need to learn to recognize emotions in others. We need to develop empathy; we need to be attuned to what others want or need.
And we need to develop our emotional intelligence so we are capable of healthy relationships.
Comments
Post a Comment