Emotional Intelligence (EI), a concept popularized by Daniel Goleman , is the ability to identify, understand and regulate one’s own emotions and those of others.

There is a lot of research that has demonstrated its benefits, and this has meant that for a little over two decades it has been applied in the work environment as well as in the educational or clinical environment.

Benefits of Emotional Intelligence

But what are these benefits? Why is emotional intelligence important for people? In today’s article we explain this. It will be up to you to put these tips and suggestions into practice, and benefit from a better quality of life.

Let’s get started.

1. Improves self-knowledge and decision-making

self-knowledge has a positive effect on self-esteem and self-confidence in different everyday situations. It also allows people to evaluate their value system and their beliefs , helps to detect strengths and weaknesses in order to improve and is necessary to make better decisions in life.

One aspect that is part of emotional intelligence is self-knowledge. Therefore, improving emotional intelligence is improving self-knowledge.

2. Improves work performance

Emotional intelligence applied to work is extremely useful in different aspects. For example, improves employee productivity, improves occupational health, improves customer service , etc.

  • If you want to know more about the benefits of emotional intelligence at work, you can read our article: “The benefits of emotional intelligence at work”

3. Protects and prevents stress

Proper emotional management is so important to protect against stress that it does not cause it. Imagine a work situation in which a lack of empathy and poor regulation of one’s own emotions causes continual discussions with your boss or a co-worker. In the long run these discussions can lead to a bad working environment, and as a consequence, a stressful environment.

Now imagine that you are the boss, and that emotional mismanagement makes you an intolerant person. It is clear that your subordinates are going to suffer from your lack of emotional control, which can become a stressor for the workers you manage. That is why it is important to enjoy an environment with emotional intelligence, to protect us from the wear and tear of the day-to-day work .

4. Improves interpersonal relations

Returning to the previous point, the example shows that emotional intelligence is a determining factor in maintaining healthy interpersonal relationships. Knowing and understanding your own and other people’s emotions helps you to deal better with conflicts , something that may be inevitable when we live with other people.

Also, remember that relationships are often a constant negotiation, and maintaining emotional balance in those situations that can easily get out of hand often avoids a lot of pain and misunderstanding.

5. Encourages personal development

Emotional intelligence and personal development go hand in hand. In fact, coaches, that is, experts in personal development, provide emotional intelligence tools to coachees , because an individual’s personal development cannot be understood without correct self-knowledge and management of one’s emotions.

6. Gives influence and leadership capacity

Emotional intelligence is an essential competence of leaders . The leader’s own emotional self-control or the ability to understand others is a good demonstration of leadership skills.

In fact, many charismatic leaders, those with high emotional intelligence, such as the transformational leader, have proven to be the most effective leaders in many researches, as they motivate and increase the productivity and efficiency of the group.

7. Promotes psychological well-being

In recent years interest in emotional intelligence is growing thanks to the benefits it provides for psychological well-being . Many current pathologies have to do with the correct emotional management, and therefore, it is applied as a therapeutic method.

However, not only is it used with adults, but in many schools it is educated with emotional intelligence, as schools are increasingly aware of the importance of EI for the emotional health of students.

8. Reduces anxiety and helps overcome depression

Many people suffer from anxiety because of a negative assessment of reality or incorrect control of emotions, and emotional intelligence can help prevent anxious symptoms.

Research has shown high scores on the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS) questionnaire, developed by Salovey in 1995, which includes three dimensions, (1) attention to feelings , (2) emotional clarity and (3) emotional repair , are associated with higher levels of life satisfaction and lower levels of anxiety .

9. Increases motivation and helps achieve goals

Several studies have shown that emotional intelligence is extremely important when it comes to achieving our goals, and, in fact, coaches use it to motivate their clients .

Emotional intelligence protects us in difficult situations, because self-knowledge can keep us afloat even when we want to give up or throw in the towel. For example, if we detect and know that feelings of frustration are a part of life, we may move on even though not everything has turned out the way we wanted.

10. Helps you sleep better

The improvement of well-being and emotional balance is positive for sleeping. It is common for poor management of emotions to cause anxiety and generate problems in our daily lives. All this is negative for our psychological and physical health, and influences our sleep .

Managing our emotions in the right way, accepting our negative emotions, understanding the emotions of others and regulating our behavior is key to having a peaceful sleep and a life without great ups and downs.