Over the past few years, emotional intelligence (“EQ”) has become one of the most popular leadership theories in business. It looks at how well you control your emotions and what kind of feelings you are able to manage in order to achieve success and happiness in life.

With more than 5 million copies sold of its various books, EQ is now a self-help craze. A wide range of companies offer online training or group workshops on EQ for employees.

But while many people have heard about it, very few actually understand what it means. In this article, we will go into greater depth by comparing the differences between practical and theoretical versions of EQ, as well as looking at some easy ways to improve your own.

I hope you enjoy reading these tips as much as I did!

Practicing practical skills like empathy, acceptance and responsibility can help you develop your emotional intelligence. Plus, being smart with your emotions is an excellent way to be.

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Have patience

In our increasingly fast-paced society, people do not have enough time to breathe and focus on what is important to them.

With technology advancing at an astonishing speed, it is easy to get distracted. Technology has made us very accessible, but at a cost.

We are constantly exposed to distractions that offer quick rewards. It becomes hard to enjoy things because you have to spend your time focusing on something else instead.

It can be difficult to sit down and just read a book when you have a busy schedule. And even if you find time to read, there are always too many distractions online.
As we all know, distractions can easily turn into bad habits or behaviors that continue longer than intended.

Having adequate patience with yourself will help you achieve your goals. Learning how to remain focused on one task for a length of time will enhance your reading skills and self-control.

You will also learn how to relax and set aside time to work on projects that take more time.

Make eye contact

Making direct, meaningful connections with other people is a powerful way to improve your emotional intelligence. When you make direct eye contacts with someone, it demonstrates that you are paying attention to them, and they can tell that you care about what they have to say.

When you avoid making eye contact, you may feel like you do not know who else to look at while talking. Or maybe you just don’t want to be focused on how you look or if others perceive you as intelligent or not.

Avoid looking away or having a soft focus when you talk to people. Keep your eyes engaged and aware of what the other person is saying.

Making eye contact does not necessarily mean sticking out your tongue or rolling your eyes. It can be a simple, clear gaze that shows interest in what the other person has to say.

Try establishing some rules for avoiding prolonged eye contact. For example, set a limit of one minute per person before moving on.

Be realistic

Even if you have a lot of emotional intelligence, that is not necessarily going to help you. If you expect yourself to feel happy all the time, then it can backfire and hurt you instead.

It’s like expecting your car to run well – you could probably do it once, maybe even twice, but after that, what are you going to do? Drive around looking thoughtful and serious all the time?

You need to learn how to relax and enjoy life more, which includes having fun with others and experiencing happiness in small, steady doses.

And there’t be any reason to believe that this will change until you work on feeling happier inside yourself first.

Be realist about who you are as a person and what things make you unhappy, and try to fix those problems.

Once you get past the initial struggle, you may find that you enjoy being happier than you thought.

Share your experiences

Developing your emotional intelligence is not just about knowing what emotions are, it’s also about understanding why you have certain feelings and how to use them effectively.

Emotions can be helpful or hurtful, so it makes sense to learn some basic skills for managing your own emotions as well as those of others.

When we're in touch with our emotions, they help us make good decisions because we think more clearly when we feel something.

We're better able to recognize potential problems and opportunities if we understand ourselves and other people.

In this article, I'll talk about ways to improve your emotional intelligence through self-awareness, empathy, and socialization. But first, let's take a look at three factors that play a big role in someone's emotional intelligence.

Be honest with your peers

As mentioned before, one of the biggest factors in someone’s emotional intelligence is their level of honesty. If you don’t know what to say or how to act in a situation, then that person will have to work even harder to figure out what they should do.

By being more aware of other people's emotions, they can better understand why things are happening and whether or not something is said is true.

It also helps them determine if what they think is true and what they heard about a person is actually true.

If there was a rumor going around that someone is always late because they like to stay up late and party, it would be hard for anyone to believe that claim until we see whether or not he/she is ever on time!

Conversational skills play an important role in emotional intelligence as well. If you notice that someone is talking very much about something, but seems distracted and doesn't seem too invested in what they're saying, chances are they aren't doing so because they are interested in what you had to say.

Listen to others closely

A lot of people have a tendency to talk more than listen, thinking that talking is better than listening. But when you don’t learn how to do both, you lose out on a lot of great information and insights.

By paying close attention to what other people are saying, you can get a good sense of their emotions, what makes them feel happy or sad, and whether they seem to be sharing important information with you.

This will help you develop your emotional intelligence because you’ll know how to read people. In fact, it’s one of the key EI skills.

You’ll also want to make sure that you're not taking things for granted by assuming something about someone else. For example, if a friend tells you that she's feeling depressed, ask her why she feels this way. This could give you some clues as to what may be making her unhappy, and maybe even suggest ways to cheer her up.

Don’t be egotistical

One of the biggest reasons why people lose their faith in humanity is because they are constantly coming across examples of selfish individuals, or what some call “selfish humans.”

These individuals don’t seem to care about anything but themselves; they don’t put in any effort into helping others nor do they show gratitude for all that have done for them.

By having low emotional intelligence you will also tend to be very critical and pessimistic of other people and things, which doesn’t help anyone.

You need to understand that being more compassionate and understanding of other people can make them feel better and thus improve their own quality of life.

By putting yourself first and only caring about your personal success and happiness, you take away one of the main tools that human beings have, which makes it hard to achieve true happiness.

This article will talk more about how to increase your emotional intelligence.

Be humble

Most people have a very strong perception of their own importance, which can lead to them feeling like they are better than everyone else.

This is what makes it easy for them to feel superior about themselves and other people. It also helps them feel good about themselves because they believe that they are special, soothe their ego.

However, this perception of theirs doesn’t exist in the world outside of their head. There's really no one out there who thinks you're much more important than anyone else.

Your thoughts don't match up with reality, so try not to live in your mind. We all have the same amount of time here, we're all going to die someday, and none of us know what will happen next.

There's only one person who knows how important he or she is, and that's you. So spend some time realizing just how special you are and giving yourself credit for your achievements.