EIQ And The Yardstick For Success

Anyone who wants to be successful in life should first be able to define the meaning of success to become one. Someone said that “success is a completion of anything intended.” That is, whatever you have planned or intended to do, you've got to finish or bring into completion. That's success.

But if you plan to do something bad and succeeded, does it make you a successful person? Being successful, therefore, should always be equated with all things positive. This should be the yardstick for assessing our lives if we have failed or succeeded at the end of the day.

If academic excellence and certain aspects of intelligence such as logical reasoning, math skills, verbal abilities, and analytical understanding can predict to a significant degree the professional and personal success of an individual, why is it that some of those with excellent levels of IQ are not doing successfully in life?

There are a lot of people who have shown so much promise and potential that end up as a mess. They either fall into depression, addiction, or sometimes commit suicide. Something could be going wrong in the way they think and behave which hindered their chances to succeed.

According to Daniel Goleman, well-known psychologist and author of the book “Emotional Intelligence,” one of the major missing parts in the success equation is emotional intelligence. This concept is based on years of research by numerous scientists, such as Peter Salovey, John Meyer, Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg and Jack Block, just to name a few. They all agree that people with high emotional intelligence (EIQ) tend to be more successful in life than those with lower EIQ even if their classical IQ is average.

Emotional intelligence allows a person to be socially effective. The higher the emotional intelligence, the better the social relations. Emotionally intelligent people can better perceive emotions, use them in thought, understand their meanings, and manage emotions, than others. These people are often the ones we consider to provide a shoulder to cry on. They do not only solve their own emotional problems, but they help others deal with it as well. They require less cognitive effort in solving emotional problems. They tend to be more open and agreeable than others, and are drawn to occupations involving social interactions, such as teaching and counseling, than jobs involving clerical or administrative duties.

Emotional intelligence is crucial to help us through our emotionally demanding days. If we are not emotionally intelligent, we need people who have higher EIQ to rely on and guide us in processing emotional information. Emotional intelligence enables our thinking and behavior to become more focus in achieving our goals and to take hold of the success in life we are dreaming of.