What is emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is a different way of being smart, essentially how intelligent you are about your own emotions. Psychologist Daniel Goleman describes it as a set of personal skills for how you handle yourself and your relationships 1. He breaks it into four main parts:

• Self-awareness: Knowing what you are feeling, why you feel it, and how it affects your actions 1.
• Self-management: Using that awareness to keep disruptive emotions in check while channeling positive feelings, energy, and focus 1.
• Empathy, or social awareness: Tuning into other people to understand and care about how they feel 1.
• Social skills, or relationship management: Putting it all together to communicate well, handle conflict, and build strong, harmonious relationships 1.