Emotional Intelligence 2.0 Summary – March 2022

Author: Travis Bradberry, Jean Greaves

Short Summary
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (2009) teaches us how to deal with emotions in different situations and how to be aware of our emotions as well as others. Moreover, the book helps us to learn to manage and control our emotions and do not let our emotions control us. The book is all about understanding emotional intelligence and how to improve EQ in order to be successful in life.
emotional intelligence 2.0 summary
Source: amazon.com

Detailed Summary

The book is a great guide for anyone who is struggling to manage his/her emotions. Almost everybody is trying to improve their emotional intelligence in their personal life or at work.  First of all, the book teaches us what emotional intelligence is and how it contributes to a successful life. Another thing is the emotional quotient (EQ) which is how to handle emotions. Let’s be honest, nobody is too good at handling emotions, especially in stressful situations. So, the book has great advice and tips to increase our EQ.

Moreover, the book tells us about the four essential emotional intelligence (EQ) skills that anyone can learn. According to the author, these skills fall into two categories personal and social. You need to focus on your personal awareness and management as well as social awareness and social management.

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 Summary Key Points

Improve your EQ by these four components

If you wish to develop your EQ, you should be aware that it is made up of four essential elements. The first requirement is self-awareness. This refers to your ability to comprehend both your feelings and your actions. When you are self-aware, you understand why you feel the way you do and you become aware of your emotions either positive or negative. This means you don’t have to be consumed by your feelings.

There are a lot of times, we become enraged with another person without realizing that the source of our rage is unrelated to what the other person has said or done. Instead, anger may have emerged because we fail to recognize the other’s statements as a suggestion or even a creative new concept, rather than as a kind of criticism or assault. We learn to watch our emotions rather than respond to them when we develop Self Awareness.

The second step is self-management, which is putting yourself in situations where you can act appropriately. It has to do with your ability to behave or not act based on the situation by analyzing your emotions and making the most appropriate, adaptive decision.

The third component is social awareness. The authors add that if you understand your own emotions, you can begin to recognize whether those around you are angry, sad, or excited. Being socially aware allows you to detect the emotions and feelings of the individuals you contact with. Social awareness is all about understanding other people and appreciating them.

Relationship management is the fourth step. You may only develop meaningful relationships in your life when you understand both yourself and the people around you. If you notice that a co-worker is sensitive to criticism, for example, you can deliver feedback in a variety of ways. As a result, your relationship will improve.

Use emotion VS logic list for self-management

Next up in the Emotional Intelligence 2.0 Summary, the author says that when your emotions and logic are at odds, make an Emotion-vs-Logic list. List the emotional vs. logical arguments in two columns, one on top of the other. After that, ask two questions could your judgment be clouded by emotions? and how might logic be interfering with emotional cues? Putting these down on paper will help you view the problem more clearly. Take note of which side has the stronger points when you compare them. Perhaps you’ll see that your emotions are clouding your judgment. Alternatively, your logic may contain flaws.

Consider the following scenario: you have an employee who you like a lot but who isn’t particularly good at his work. You’re thinking of firing him, and the emotion vs. reason list can help you decide what’s the best course of action.

How to be a great communicator

The authors have guided us on how to be a good communicator and that is to align your body language and what you say. Besides this, the ability to develop and sustain solid relationships, according to the authors, is a key component of EQ. Checking your body language to make sure you’re not sending mixed signals is one method to do this. Your body and actions, not just your speech, express a lot about how you feel, so be sure you’re sending the correct signals.

Let’s imagine you need to express gratitude to your staff for all of their efforts. You and your husband, on the other hand, had a major disagreement this morning. You won’t come off as honest if you speed through your speech without smiling. This is due to a mismatch between your body language and the message.

Another excellent strategy to improve your connections with those around you is to solicit input from those closest to you. It makes sense since how can we ever truly progress if we don’t receive feedback on what we’re doing well. This can be challenging because it’s all too simple to misinterpret input as criticism and dismiss it. However, learning to accept constructive criticism is crucial. It helps to remind yourself that the individual offering you comments is really concerned about your well-being.

Who would I recommend Emotional Intelligence 2.0 Summary to?

Emotional intelligence 2.0 Summary is recommended to all the short-tempered and angry birds who get frustrated quickly and can’t deal with stressful situations calmly. The book will teach them about emotional intelligence.

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