Emotional Intelligence: Managing Your Emotions Are Vital to Success at Work, Home, and Your Community

We are all emotional beings, and yes it is even important for a BE Modern Man to express how he feels. Emotions and how you manage them plays a vital role in our success at work, at home, and in our communities. Motivation, self-awareness, self-regulation, and social skills are the qualities that make up emotional intelligence and, if managed correctly, can be the difference between good and great performance. The great thing about all of these characteristics is that they can all be strengthened over time by recognizing their importance and identifying which need work.

From the time you wake up until the time you lay down, you’ll experience many feelings throughout the day. Self-regulation and self-awareness are especially important because these daily experiences we have affects our decision making and can make or break important deals, reputations, and relationships. The truth is, we all have negative thoughts and feelings which are unavoidable, but the problem is that people become fixated on them. The benefits that stem from improving emotional intelligence are boundless. The connections that you will make with your inner motivations and with others, will result in valuable assets for advancing your career and strengthening your life skills.

Here are three steps to help control and manage your emotions:

Listen: Listen to what’s going on in your head and learn to act on it in a way that reflects your values as opposed to what you’re feeling in the moment. This adeptness will save you from lashing out or thrashing about in misery. This ability to listen to what’s going on inside will free up mental energy and help you become more productive, which leads to happiness.

Replace your thoughts: Negative emotions fasten you to reoccurring negative thoughts, which creates cycles of negative patterns. When an emotion enters your mind that makes you think or feel something bad, immediately replace it with a positive thought. This might be thinking about the ideal resolution to your problem, or some of the positive things that are happening in your career and relationships.

Be slow to react: Reacting right away to emotional triggers can be a mistake leading to an outcome you may regret later. Be slow to react and quick to process what is taking place.

It’s our normal to be extraordinary. Follow @blackenterprise and join the BE Modern Man conversation using #BEModernMan.