Over the past few years, emotional intelligence (or EQ as it is commonly referred to) has become one of the most popular workplace strategies. Many companies offer training in EQ or even require it as part of your job.

Some studies even suggest that having higher levels of EQ makes for better employees, and maybe even leads to higher employee engagement and satisfaction.

If you’ve been thinking about trying some EQ practices at work, here are eight ways that EQ can boost your job satisfaction.

1. You will learn more about yourself

As we grow older, we tend to put more emphasis on what we do and don’t like. We get familiar with our own strengths and weaknesses, but we rarely take time to look back and assess how well we are performing compared to others.

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This lack of self-evaluation is a big reason why many people feel stressed out and unconfident. They may not realize they could be doing a good job until someone else tells them.

By investing in your EQ skills, you can begin to understand your strengths and weaknesses, and develop confidence in yourself by comparing yourself to other people.

2. You will appreciate nature more

Many people talk about finding peace and tranquility in the natural world, but very few actually make efforts to achieve this.

Relationship with coworkers

As mentioned earlier, one of the most important roles that emotional intelligence can play in your career is relationships. Your colleagues are a key part of what makes or breaks your job satisfaction.

As discussed before, empathy is an essential quality for someone working in business. If you don't have it, then you won't understand how hurt people feel when you treat them like they're not really worth paying attention to.

And if you don't understand why other people get upset, you'll never know when it's time to apologize and try to fix things.

In addition to understanding why others are feeling the way they are, there is another quality related to empathy that has been linked to greater workplace happiness- being able to acknowledge and accept that something you said or done was wrong.

This isn't necessarily a soft thing to do, but it does mean acknowledging that you've made a mistake and trying to make amends where possible.

How to be a better employee

Being able to recognize your own emotions is an important part of being a successful employee. When you are aware of what you feel, it can help you identify potential problems at work and make appropriate changes.

It also helps you connect with other people, since knowing how you feel about something makes you more willing to talk about it. You will notice that most high-level employees are very emotional — they show passion for their job, listen to others, and are considered good team members.

Emotions play a big role in relationships too, so learning how to manage yours could strengthen your bond with those around you.

When it comes to employment, there’s another reason to develop your EQ — job satisfaction.

Employees who have higher emotional intelligence tend to feel happier at work. They may even enjoy their position more than someone with lower EQ. This can make them want to stay working here longer, which is valuable for the company.

Identifying your emotions

The second element of emotional intelligence is identifying your own feelings. You are aware of what makes you feel happy, sad or angry.

You know when things make you feel good and bad. You are conscious of your moods.

When you want something, someone else has it – that will make you feel poor because you don’t have what they do. Or maybe you just realized you ran out of milk at home so you bought some too many drinks at the store.

That made you feel tired, stressed, and guilty. All of these effects can be detrimental to your health.

And while everyone feels emotions from time to time, people who have high emotional intelligence recognize their emotions and understand why they are feeling a certain way.

This helps them control their reactions, which leaves them with less stress.

They may also identify what is causing their emotional responses and work to eliminate or reduce those causes.

Understanding others emotions

When you understand how other people feel, you can use this information to determine what actions will make them happier or sadder. This is called emotional intelligence (or empathy).

People with high EQ are aware of how other people perceive things and affect their moods accordingly. For example, someone who knows that getting good grades makes his friends happy may drop studies for a week so that he can enjoy more success.

Similarly, someone who realizes that talking about past failures helps motivate future effort might talk about her own struggles after dropping a ball in sports.

By showing an understanding of human nature, individuals with high emotional quotient are effective role models where others learn from their behavior.

Furthermore, they tend to be well-liked by colleagues and superiors because of their friendly demeanor and ability to connect with others.

Taking control of your emotions

While some may think that being able to relate to people is only important for career success, research suggests that it actually has more direct implications for overall job satisfaction.

In fact, a large majority of employees report that they are not given enough credit for their efforts when interacting with others in the workplace, and this lack of recognition can contribute heavily to burn-out and quitting.

The most common reasons include feeling overworked or underappreciated, feelings that often get exacerbated by higher level staff members who seem to be enjoying themselves while you feel like you’re working harder than ever without any reward.

Emotional intelligence (or EI) refers to one's ability to recognize, understand, and manage one's own emotions as well as those of other people. With adequate EI, individuals are better equipped to handle situations that might otherwise make them unhappy or overwhelmed.

Developing your emotional intelligence

A large part of being happy at work is determined by how you manage your emotions. It’s understandable that when you come into the workplace, you might be focused on achieving your goals and making sure your job gets done, but taking time to focus on other things can help you feel happier.

Research shows that people who are able to recognize their own feelings and those of others are more likely to enjoy their jobs. This emotional intelligence (EI) comes down to someone’s ability to identify their emotions and why they’re feeling a certain way.

It also means understanding what makes other people feel good or bad and learning how to apply this knowledge in the workplace. For example, if someone else seems particularly stressed out, you could suggest doing something less stressful for them, or talking about less important issues to reduce their stress level.

If you notice yourself becoming angry or irritable, try to understand why this has happened before figuring out how to avoid it happening again.

Improving your job satisfaction

Even though workplace happiness has been discussed in theory for years, there is still no quick fix or universal way to make yourself feel happier at work.

That said, research does show that being able to recognize and manage your emotions can help you enjoy what you are doing at work and increase your job satisfaction.

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to someone’s ability to identify their own feelings and those of others, as well as use this knowledge to motivate oneself and others.

It also means knowing how to handle these feelings in productive ways. Some people may have higher EI than other do, just like some people are more creative or logical than others.

This doesn’t make them any better or worse, it simply makes them different. Just because someone else has great EQ doesn’t mean they would be happy working with him/her.

Lessons for being emotional intelligent

The second major component of emotional intelligence is lessons in how to be more emotionally competent. This includes things like learning what emotions are, recognizing your own emotions, understanding why other people may feel certain ways about something, and managing those feelings.

Emotions come with natural consequences. When you're aware of this fact, you can choose whether to apply pressure or not, or if you have to apply pressure, you can evaluate which approach is most effective.

For example, when someone else feels stressed, they might become irritated and irritable towards you. It's important to recognize that their stress comes from something you did or said, so try to understand where that came from.

If possible, look into the source of the stress and see if there’s anything you can do to reduce it. If there isn't, maybe find another way to accomplish your goal, or avoid doing whatever made them feel that way in the first place.