Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Many disregard the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ). People tend to think that having the right amount of IQ alone will be sufficient in life. Even when down in the history books, it is a revelation that many brilliant men and women aren't exactly the smart kids in class. Many of those who failed miserably in class, underachieved or who have been relegated to life on the margin turned out to be one of the world's top people. However, despite this body of evidence, society has persisted in believing that success in school equals to success in life or at the very least - at the workplace.

This is an awful presumption. It is fundamentally based on the school system's rather restrictive way of measuring achievement. The book smarts are thrown into the limelight during the school years while the street smarts are marginalized. In society's mind, a person with a high IQ would be perfectly competent to be thrust upon the face of success. But first of all, what is success? I'll take a line from the book I'm currently reading. Let's see it this way, success defines the ability to set and achieve your personal and professional goals, whatever they may be.

It sounds simple, right? But as we age and gain experience woand maturity, our personal definition of success will definitely ebb away and change. Most of the time it is depending on the role we are trying to fulfill at that moment. Like for example maybe as a student, or son/daughter or a good friend. We're committed to succeed in what our main concerns are at the moment. So, I guess it varies pretty much from every individual. Albeit that, it can be said that the general meaning of success remains a constant to most of us.

I'm not going to delve deep into this subject. It will be time and energy consuming if I do. Those who feel intrigued by this, you can go borrow or buy a book on emotional intelligence. Get one that's easy to comprehend, like the one I'm reading now called The EQ Edge by Steven Stein. Anyway, back to topic, some of us might not probably know what is this "Emotional Intelligence" about. To simplify matters, emotional intelligence is the ability to cope, to adapt and to get along with others. Emotional intelligence is divided into five blanket areas or realms:

1. Intrapersonal Realm
This concerns your ability to know and manage yourself. It involves:
- Self-Awareness
- Assertiveness
- Independence
- Self-Regard
- Self-Actualization

2. Interpersonal Realm
Concerning your "people skills" - your ability to interact and get along with others, it is composed of three scales:
- Empathy
- Social Responsibility
- Interpersonal Relationships

3. Adaptability Realm
This involves your ability to be flexible and realistic and to solve problems when they arise. There are three scales:
- Reality Testing
- Flexibility
- Problem Solving

4. Stress Management Realm
This realm concerns your ability to tolerate stress and control impulses. Its two scales are:
- Stress Tolerance
- Impulse Control

5. The General Mood Realm
This realm also has two scales:
- Optimism
- Happiness

Okay, now that you've got a general idea of what emotional intelligence I am sure that you're able to discern the differences between IQ and EQ. In short, IQ is just a measure of an individual's intellectual, analytical, logical and rational abilities. Mostly, it is concerned with verbal, spatial, visual and mathematical skills. It gauges how readily we learn new things; focus on tasks; retain and recall objective information; engage in a reasoning process; manipulate numbers; think abstractly as well as analytically; and to solve problems by applying knowledge gained prior to that. If you happen to have a high IQ, I can tell you that you're well equipped to pass all sorts of examinations with flying colours. However, I am not able to tell if you will do well in life later on. Without much emotional intelligence, you will find it hard to navigate your way in our complex world - the personal, social and survival aspects of overall intelligence, the elusive common sense and sensitivity that are essential to effective daily functioning.

In our everyday language, emotional intelligence is referred to as "street smarts" or maybe "common sense". It has to do with the ability to read the political and social environment, to intuitively grasp what others want or need, what their strengths and weaknesses are; to remain unwavered by stress; and to be the kind of person that others are comfortable with. As a conclusion, emotional intelligence reassuringly plays a significantly large role in having a successful life. Of course, it would be even better if both IQ and EQ come hand-in-hand. But I think even if you have a low IQ but higher EQ, you would have an equal chance of doing well in life. I also think that schools should try to insinuate the concept emotional intelligence and not only focus on how "book smart" a person is.