Main image via VIX
The message has always been the same: practice, memorise, put in the time and effort to study hard, and you’ll inevitably do well in school. These are of course, good habits that have brought many academic success. But, what’s so often missing in the narrative is the importance of emotional intelligence.
While intelligence is defined as the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills, emotional intelligence is defined as one’s ability to identify and manage his or her emotions and the emotions of others. It encompasses four main skills: self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, and relationship-management.
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How does identifying and managing your emotions make you a better student—and ultimately a better employee? Here are 5 ways…
#1 You learn not to be too impulsive
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Stress, either from work or study, can lead to very impulsive decisions that can lead to regret and embarrassment later on. By developing emotional intelligence, you learn to take a moment to think of the potential outcome of a decision before you speak or act.
#2 You learn to be more accepting of constructive criticism
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Nobody likes to receive criticism, but in order to learn and grow, sometimes the ego needs to go and the mind needs to be more accepting of the feedback and opinions of others. It’s easier said than done, but that’s all the more reason to develop your emotional intelligence. It’s nothing personal.
#3 You learn to apologise
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When it comes to learning or being in the workplace, humility is a quality that’ll get you far. It’s also a quality that draws people in, promoting teamwork and helping you build meaningful relationships. A good way to demonstrate humility? Having the courage to apologise.
#4 You don’t break commitments
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Sounds like common sense, right? But commitments are surprisingly notoriously difficult to keep. Which of course often spells trouble in a school or work setting. But as you develop emotional intelligence, particularly in the area of relationship-management, you’ll start to make it a habit of keeping to your commitments… which will only benefit you.
#5 You develop empathy
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No matter which stage in life you’re at, there’ll always be a need to connect with others. And when it comes to building connections, empathy is one of the greatest tools at your disposal. It allows you to understand the thoughts and feeling of others.
In professions such as engineering, empathy lets them design things which empathise with the end users, allowing them to create successful, user-friendly, and value-adding products and services. As engineering is becoming more a team endeavour, people with empathy will also excel at communicating and delivering their engineering tasks.
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So, now that you know of the importance of emotional intelligence, you’d be doing yourself a great disservice for not developing it.
Enter the Youth Transformation Programme by Heriot-Watt University Malaysia, an experiential programmed aimed at cultivating emotional intelligence in students through a design-based curriculum and a project-based learning that develops social and interpersonal skills within an engineering context. The programme is set to begin on 9 July. Alternatively, you can also visit them on their Open Days on 14 and 15 July.
Also, good news! The first 50 readers to register for Heriot-Watt’s Youth Transformation Programme at http://intake.hw.edu.my/ytp with the code: YTPLITEFM will be able to attend for free with no commitments to sign up for our Foundation programme.
For more info on Heriot-Watt University Malaysia programmes, visit www.hw.edu.my or call 03-8894 3888.