State of the Heart 2016
by Six Seconds | Apr 4, 2016 | EQ Business, EQ Education, EQ Life, EQ Parenting, Six Seconds
A finding from a recent study is that Total EQ (emotional intelligence) is declining globally.
Since the 2014 State of the Heart, the biggest losses are in the EI competencies of
maintaining emotional balance (or managing emotions) - decreased by 3.3%
Engage Intrinsic Motivation - decreased by 2.9%
Empathy - decreased by 2.4%
So, globally people are more emotionally volatile, less self-motivated, and less compassionate.
Meanwhile, emotional intelligence scores are massively correlated with performance, with 55% of the variation in key success factors predicted by EQ. Josh Freedman, co-author of the study and CEO of Six Seconds observes, ”The bad news is emotional intelligence continues to decline globally. I hypothesize this is due to growing stress and chaos in the world — maybe that’s also why the analysis found that emotional intelligence is essential for top performance. In the study we found people which higher-than-average EQ are dramatically more likely to be high performers — it means that essentially, EQ is a requirement.”
Fortunately, research has shown that it is not too late for anyone to improve their EQ. There are things that all of us can do to increase our EQ if we are prepared to practice
Firstly - Talk back to those “irrational thoughts” in your head.
When that negative “voice” from inside speaks, stop listening.
Instead, take it on.
Replace that negative voice with your own – you will develop increased emotional resilience.
Practice POSITIVE self talk
There are common negative thoughts that contribute to poor emotional self-management
It is important to remember though, that not all negative emotions are bad and that we don’t need to eradicate them completely; however, there are many times when we feel more negative emotions than we should, given the situation, or where we tend to “stew” on a negative emotion.
What we need to do in this situation is recognise the negative emotion, attribute a cause to it, and then manage that emotion so that we do not stay in a negative state of mind but bring ourselves back to a more positive state of mind.
Secondly - employ some simple everyday practices to improve your EQ
- Learn everything you can about emotion.
- Pay attention to what you feel, when and why.
- Start observing others’ feelings and behaviour.
- Listen to how other people express their emotions, and start practicing yourself.
- Think about who in your life can teach you - your partner, a sibling or a friend?
- Practice talking about your feelings with someone you trust.
- Start an Emotional Intelligence Training Program.
Remember – PRACTICE is all it takes!
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