Smart Emotions, Brighter Future: Discover How To Improve Emotional Intelligence With These Hands-On Strategies Starting Today

Learn how to improve emotional intelligence and increase your self-awareness and social awareness.

There are many practical strategies that will help you enhance your emotional intelligence. This article presents 15 validated ways to improve your emotional intelligence (EI). This includes a powerful online program that combines neuroscience and daily practice to develop emotional intelligence.

A Very Brief Introduction to Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotions. It's also about being aware of other people's emotions. It’s a valuable skill that has a positive impact on our personal and professional lives.

Emotional intelligence consists of four key domains that contain emotional and social skills. These include: 

• self-awareness
• self-management
• social awareness, and 
• relationship management.

Improving emotional intelligence is a journey that takes time and dedication. Studies have found that the most effective way to develop emotional intelligence is to join a training program. A structured program gives you guidance and provides helpful feedback.

Learn more about EI, the four domains, and its benefit for you.

How to Improve Emotional Intelligence:
15 Practical Steps

Use these steps to guide and support you as you build emotional intelligence in your daily life.

1. Self-Awareness and Assessment

• Start by reflecting on your current level of emotional intelligence.
• Complete an online assessment, such as this Emotional Intelligence Test from Truity.
• Consider how you handle emotions, interact with others, and manage stress.
• Be brave! Ask friends, family, or colleagues for advice. Ask, "What do you think I could do more of?" with regard to self-awareness, managing emotions, or relationships.

2. Research and Education

• Begin by learning about the basics of emotional intelligence.
• Read books and online articles to gain a basic understanding of EI principles. Books like "Emotional Intelligence 2.0" by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves offer valuable insights.
• Continue learning and practice what you learn each day.

3. Self-Reflection

• Pay attention to your emotions and practice identifying them.
• Keep a list of emotions and refer to it to help identify what you feel.
• Notice when you feel emotions like anger, sadness, joy, and fear.
• Journaling can be helpful to recognize and label your emotions.

4. Track your Moods

• Use a mood-tracking app or a journal to record your moods and emotions. 
• Try to identify patterns in your feelings and behaviors. 
• I’ve used an app called Daylio for this.

5. Observe other people

• Pay attention to people around you. 
• Try to understand what they are feeling in various situations.

6. Listen

• Build empathy by listening carefully to others. Try to understand their emotions and point of view.
• Practice active listening by giving your full attention when someone is speaking. Ask questions to understand their emotions better.

7. Practice Empathy

• Imagine yourself in someone else's shoes and try to understand their emotions. 
• This will help you build stronger connections with people.

8. Manage your Emotions

• Work on managing your emotions and reactions. 
• Learn to control impulsive behaviors and practice emotional self-control, especially in stressful situations.

9. Improve Social Skills

• Enhance your interpersonal skills. Focus on good communication, conflict resolution, and collaboration.
• Building strong relationships with others is a key aspect of emotional intelligence.

10. Increase Self-Motivation

• Set meaningful personal and professional goals.
• Choose to build a positive attitude towards learning and continuous improvement.
• View challenges as opportunities to learn and grow.
• Work on self-motivation to persevere in the face of challenges.

11. Practice Mindfulness

• Mindfulness exercises can help you become more aware of your thoughts. You will also learn to manage your thoughts and emotions.
• Find a local mindfulness course, or start with an app such as Mindfulness Coach, or Headspace.

12. Coaching or Therapy

• Consider working with a professional coach or therapist who specializes in emotional intelligence. 
• They can provide personalized guidance and support.

13. Track your Progress

• Create time to assess your progress and growth in emotional intelligence. 
• Set goals for improvement and track your development over time.

14. Apply What You've Learned

• Put your knowledge into practice in real-life situations. 
• Apply the principles of emotional intelligence in your daily interactions and relationships.

Where To Start?

Developing emotional intelligence requires discipline and deliberate practice. These methods are backed by science, but sometimes it's hard to know where to begin.

Reading about what to do won't magically make you emotionally intelligent, any more than reading a recipe book will turn you into a top chef. You might know the ingredients and steps, but until you actually start cooking, you won't master the art.

In the same way, improving emotional intelligence means practicing what you learn.

What if there was a solution that brings all these steps together and allows you to learn emotional intelligence at your own pace?

A solution that uses short videos, tracks your development, and gives you great feedback?

Mygrow measures your emotional intelligence, and offers you a personalized learning program using their scientific approach. Best of all it’s all delivered to you in manageable bites of easy-to-digest content.

I discovered the Mygrow platform when a client sent me this email:

I had a good look at the website and immediately signed up for the 7-day, no commitment, free trial.

And (soon after that) I did have a chat with Mark Baker, the CEO of Mygrow. I was really impressed with his vision for helping individuals and teams flourish.

By visiting the Mygrow website you can download the app straight to your phone. Then, take a moment to discover your emotional intelligence abilities and areas for improvement.

You’ll get an objective analysis of your strengths and weaknesses, access to short videos and quizzes, and daily techniques that focus on EI growth over time.

The beauty of Mygrow is that you're not relying on dull courses that teach you about emotional intelligence. Instead, you can build EI skills and actually improve it through daily practice.

Plus, because Mygrow uses short videos, games, and quizzes, based on the latest research, it is really interesting and engaging. You can focus on what you do best and build your EI.

By utilizing Mygrow’s dashboards for instant feedback you can meaningfully track your growth. Watching your emotional intelligence improve over time is motivating and means you’re less likely to fall back into old habits.

Furthermore, Mygrow doesn’t limit you to follow a set program. Instead, you to choose the growth areas you want to improve, and then practice these when it’s convenient for you.

Finally, Mygrow isn’t just for individuals. It’s a powerful and proactive way to boost EI in the workplace. Mygrow offers tools that make it especially valuable for teams to build EI together. This benefits the team, the business, and personal growth.

Add Mygrow to your EI strategy and discover how to improve emotional intelligence and benefit your relationships, work, and personal life.

Mygrow provides great value starting with a 7-day, no commitment, free trial. Then subscribe at an affordable monthly rate, or save by choosing the annual rate.

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Hi! I'm Mark Connelly. As a psychologist and coach with 20+ years of experience, I help people create and manage change.

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