How To Use Emotional Intelligence When Making Decisions

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2 years ago

When we catch ourselves in an emotional state, we'll often make the wrong decision. New research finds, that when people are in an emotional state, they typically make decisions, that they would regret later. The better we understand our own emotions, the better we'll understand the reactions of others. Choose your words carefully, when making decisions to deliver the message you desire.

Choose your words wisely, when communicating with your friends or team to minimize conflict. Learn to make decision before you make them and learn to make them after you know what you want to say. The more we know about our emotions, the better we can make decisions and behavior changes. The most important aspect of our skillset, is our ability to make decisions with the use of emotional intelligence.

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What Is Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize emotions, regulate your own emotions, and manage the emotions of others. It can be defined as the ability to effect your emotions on the situations you encounter and the ability to understand others emotions. The ability to use emotional intelligence can be learned, simply by practicing. By improving your emotional intelligence, you can improve the quality of your life and the lives of those around you.

Three Major Components Of Emotional Intelligence

  • Is It All Relative? Emotional Intelligence is relative. While tests can be used to rank people according to their EI, it is important to realize, that everyone is different. As one test gives a certain ranking, another test might rank someone slightly different. What may be considered high EI in one person, might not be considered high EI in another. This means, that you should only base your emotional intelligence on what the user considers to be the highest rank they have achieved.

  • Is It All In Your Head? Emotional Intelligence is real and can be measured. While many people believe it to be a certain thing in your head, that you just need to open up and let flow, it is actually a lot more complicated. It is important to understand, that you cannot force yourself to have a certain emotion if you do not feel it. However, you can learn techniques to help you feel a certain way, so as long as you practice them regularly.

  • Is It In Your Heart? Emotional intelligence is about more, than just the head and heart. It is about your whole person. While these three aspects are major components of emotional intelligence, there are many other areas, that contribute. These other areas include your appearance, your values, your lifestyle, and your personality. All of these aspects must be taken into consideration, in order to determine the full scale of one's emotional intelligence.

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How To Increase Emotional Intelligence

There are many ways to increase your emotional intelligence, however, most of these involve self-discipline. The ability to make yourself do the things you want to do is what emotional intelligence is all about. Practicing certain skills regularly can also increase your emotional intelligence. For example, practicing singing can improve your musical abilities and make you a better singer overall.

The ability to focus is also important. If you can make yourself focus on a certain activity or task, you can increase your EI. The ability to reflect on your own work is also important, as is being able to recognize your own mistakes. The more you engage in the various activities, that can improve your emotional intelligence, the higher your EI will become.

How To Use Emotional Intelligence For Decision Making

Many people use their emotional intelligence for day-today decision making. For example, you can use your EI to determine whether or not a relationship or a job is going to be positive for you in the long term. You can also use your EI to decide whether you like someone or not. You can use your EI to work out whether you're going to win at a certain activity. You can also use your EI to help you with your short term decisions, such as what course of action to take when encountering something new.

Making decisions based on your emotional intelligence can be effective, however, there are times when it may be more beneficial to base your decision making off of logic. Different people have different methods of arriving at a certain conclusion. Sometimes, approaching a problem logically can lead to a more effective solution, while your emotional intelligence might dictate a different approach. In these cases, applying logic to your decisions can help you arrive at the best possible conclusion.

The important thing to remember is that you should always use your abilities in combination. You can't use logic or emotion alone, you need to use both. By approaching a problem with a combination of logic and your emotions, you can gain more perspective on it. By gaining different aspects of this perspective, you can find the best solution to the problem.

How To Develop And Sharpen Emotional Intelligence

Many people don't think about the ways in which emotions can serve them, because most people have accepted the negative connotations, that come with the word. In reality, you can use emotions to protect yourself from harmful situations and people. You can also use emotions to help you in positive ways, such as motivation or excitement.

When you begin to use your emotions in these positive ways, you will find that they naturally begin to strengthen. At first, you may still be able to identify with your emotions on a certain level, but you won't be able to feel them in the same way, that others can. At this point, you'll need to actively try to feel your emotions. By doing this, you can begin to make your emotions stronger.

In time, you may find that you can react to certain situations based on your emotions. For example, if something makes you angry, you'll be able to react in a suitable manner. If something makes you happy, you'll feel happy as well. This will naturally develop as you continue to spend more time with your emotions.

It is not essential, that you practice developing your emotions, as everyone's experience is different and some people develop quicker, than others. Certain activities can also help you to develop your EI, such as spending time with people, that have developed theirs, reading books about emotions and writing out your own thoughts on the matter. Talk about your feelings with people you trust and get their opinions on how you can improve.

The better you get at developing your emotions, the more freedom you will have in your life. You will be able to act in ways, that suit you through your emotions and you will be able to make better decisions.

Thank you for reading.

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Comments

I experienced to decide while I am mad and everything turns into worst. We shouldn't be driven in our emotions, improving our emotional intelligence is a must.

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2 years ago

That's right. With negative emotions we make mistakes and wrong decisions.

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2 years ago

I always try to get away from emotions when I have to make a decision. It cannot lead to anything good. The ideal is to think objectively about the problem in question, thus avoiding errors that later will be difficult to correct.

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2 years ago

Not everybody can do that. Many times before a decision made the "what if" question comes up, which can bring a lot of emotions. That's what we have to learn stop questioning ourselves.

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2 years ago

Sometimes, because of anger, I can't stop myself from saying hurtful words and regret about it after.

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2 years ago

Anger is hard to control. I agree we say and even do things, that we regret later.

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2 years ago

There are words I regret saying, things I regret doing, and when I analyze them, they are mostly decisions from my emotions, when they're at their peak. I did not realize I could also make intelligent decisions through emotions, because I don't trust it that much .

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2 years ago

I feel the same sometimes. What I need to work on is think before I say something, but the reaction depends on a person I talk to as well.

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2 years ago