Emotional intelligence is an essential part of our career and according to some studies may even be the biggest factor in our professional success. So how do we get better at our emotional intelligence? We could take an assessment or study up on the subject, or even get a coach to help us improve. But, according to Dr. Travis Bradberry, there are three ordinary things we can focus on every day to improve our emotional intelligence quotient (EQ).
- Get your stress under control.
Too much stress hurts us in a lot of ways including EQ. When we are stressed out, it hurts our ability for self-control and our capacity to manage our stress in the future. We need techniques we can employ to bring down elevated stress levels. Breathing exercises, a walk, exercise, meditation, and keeping a gratitude journal are all things that can help us regulate stress. Identify a few techniques that work for you and use them when you start feeling the pressure. Regulating your stress levels will allow you to stay in control and be productive – resulting in better overall EQ. - Get your sleep under control.
To keep our brains running well, we need enough sleep so our bodies can do critical brain maintenance that only happens when we are sleeping. The trick is that it needs to also be quality of sleep. If we wake up a bunch of times in the night or have shallow sleep, it won’t be enough. Take some time to think through your sleep hygiene. Find the equipment such as a good mattress, pillow, eye mask, etc. that works for you. Regulate the temperature that is optimal for you. There are a lot of things you can do to improve sleep quality. Find out what works for you and see how your emotional intelligence improves as your overall brain function is better. - Get your caffeine intake under control.
Sure, we now can get real Coke on campus, but we should be careful about how we are drinking it. Caffeine has about a 6-hour half-life, meaning it stays in our bodies for about 24 hours. If you drink that 64oz Mt. Dew at 3 or 4 in the afternoon and then want to go to bed at 10, you still have about half of the caffeine in your system. I’m sure it is more technical than that, but the point is that it could very well affect the quality of your sleep. You won’t sleep as deeply as your body needs. If you are going to enjoy that Coke, maybe put some distance between you and your sleep time.
These aren't the usual strategies for improving emotional intelligence, but they are things we can control to a large extent, and they make a difference. There are additional steps we can take to work on EQ, but it might be a good idea to start getting our brains and bodies in better EQ condition.