5 ways to improve your emotional intelligence

Want to improve your emotional intelligence?

Testing and research have revealed that a startling 90 percent of the most talented and top-performing people in their fields possess higher-than-normal emotional intelligence. Improving your emotional intelligence can actually do a lot more for you than making it easier to smooth over disagreements with your significant other.

The significance has more to do with what you actually avoid doing rather than what you should do. Working towards avoiding the following behaviors to reap the benefits of an improved sense of emotional intelligence. Follow Spotlife Asia for the latest Entertainment & Lifestyle news.

Don’t dwell on the past: Specifically, don’t dwell on past failures. Even though it’s been said many times over by wise people that we learn best from our failures, that doesn’t mean that we should spend a lot of time reflecting on how terrible we are for failing. Most things that are worth doing will be accompanied by the risk of failure.

Don’t let others limit your path: If you are too hung up on making comparisons between your life and the lives of others to achieve satisfaction and pleasure, you have given up control over your own happiness. Feeling good about doing something does not have to be validated through the approval of others.

People who have high emotional intelligence don’t allow themselves to put too much stock in what other people think of them. A true measure of self-worth comes from inside and it’s important to keep in mind that the things people say about you are usually embellished, whether positively or negatively.

Forget about perfection: An emotionally intelligent person knows that perfection does not exist. In heaven perhaps, but that’s another discussion entirely. Getting bogged down in trying to achieve perfection will never actually allow you to attain it and will most likely leave you with persistent feelings of failure. Instead of lamenting the absence of perfection in your accomplishments, focus more on the positive aspects of what you have achieved.

Avoid negative company: People who complain constantly and fail to focus on the things that they should be doing to solve their problems are experts at dragging others down with them. This is partly due to the fact that misery often loves company, which is something you have probably heard a number of times in your life. Avoiding these situations can be difficult since most of us want to appear sympathetic and even offer suggestions to help these people improve their situation.

When dealing with these kinds of people it necessary to establish boundaries and limits. A strategy that is often effective in shutting down chronic complainers is to ask them what they intend to do to solve their problems. Much of the time they will either stop complaining or steer the conversation in a new direction. Also read: How exercise makes your brain stronger.

Forget, but learn from mistakes: Most of us have probably been taught that forgiveness is the right way to respond when others have wronged us. That’s excellent advice but forgiving someone does not mean you forget what they have done. Forgiveness is usually as beneficial for the victim as it is for the transgressor.

Granting forgiveness does not mean you have to open yourself up to suffer at the hands of that other person again, but it’s best to let go of resentment and other negative feelings as soon as possible and avoid being bogged down due to the mistakes of others. Move on and appreciate that you will be better equipped and informed to protect yourself from future occurrences.