Emotional Intelligence quotes can be very powerful when it comes to improving the quality of your life.
Reading one or more emotional intelligence quotes regularly re-program your mental filters.
You will become more aware of emotional intelligence. You will be more open to perceiving and noticing all kinds of emotions in yourself and in others. (You probably already know almost all decisions are driven by your emotions driven by your emotional brain.)
Afterwards, we will try to justify those decisions rationally with our thinking brain. But then our emotional brain has already taken the decision for us. And the quality of our decisions determines the quality of our life.
So...
If you want to live the good life...
More...
You want to take better decisions and this means that you want to be in control of your emotions. Reading emotional intelligence quotes and contemplating about them regularly will help you do just that.
Apart from improving your personal leadership, emotional intelligence will also help you improving your leadership over other people. Because if you better understand the emotions of the people around you, you will be better equipped to explain their behaviors. Moreover, you will be able to predict their future behavior better.
This is what I'd like to call smart leadership.
It's leading people without having a title but by understanding their emotions and needs. And understanding the human brain is a prerequisite for that.
My suggestion to you... read one quote every day. And every now and then recycle back to previous quotes. This helps your subconscious mind to let sink thinks in and to re-program your mental filters.
Before we dive in...
I want to answer the question what the heck is emotional intelligence anyway?
Wat is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional Intelligence is a term popularized by Daniel Goleman in his famous book published in 2005 on this subject.
Emotional Intelligence is all about your ability to being able to recognize and understand emotions. First in yourself, and then in others. So, the first step is developing self-awareness of all kinds of emotions that are present all the time.
This is why you will want to be aware of your reptilian brain. Because your reptilian brain controls what you pay attention to.
Why Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence doesn't stop at paying attention to emotions. Once you recognize the variety of emotions you and others perceive every day...
You will want to control and manage your emotions to create better habits, daily actions and better relationships.
Because... let's face it... when negative emotions are bothering you... it's hard to focus your attention on what really matters.
And... someone else bothers you it might as well be due to distressing emotions the other person has.
Use your emotional skills to recognize this and you will take things less personally. Which again... has a positive impact on your own wellbeing and emotion.
Another important thing to realize is that emotions are always temporary. During any given day you flow from one temporary emotion into another. This is why it's always good to have a good night's sleep before you take an important decision. The next day you will see things quite differently and thus take better decisions.
If you want create effective relationships in your life, then emotional intelligence skills are very important. I'm talking about intimate relationships, family relationships as well business relationships or even "facebook relationships". In every communications emotions play a huge part in all walks of life.
Emotional Intelligence Quotes #1
Emotional Intelligence Quote
People whose eyes shine, are happy to be alive.
They see the beauty of life and it's glory, even when things aren't easy.
- Jelena Pantić
Lesson for improving your emotional intelligence skills
As a leader you are not the one who is building new buildings, or programming new software. Nor are you the one who is designing new products or designing new processes. No, your team is doing that. Your only job in order to let your team build, design, etc. is to let them shine and guide them in the right direction.
Like the best conductor in the world, leaders are doing nothing else then letting other people shine. The more you are capable of letting others shine, the better the software, building, products, processes and so on will be.
This start by seeing more potential in your team then the level where they are now. Only if you believe that somebody can perform better, he will perform better.
Emotional Intelligence Quotes #2
Emotional Intelligence Quote
The true losers in life, are not those who try and fail, but those who fail to try.
- Jess C. Scott
Lesson for improving your emotional intelligence skills
Try not to be perfect! Even more: don’t ask perfectionism from your team!
The Project Management Institute has a term for that: goldplating. Which is totally forbidden, of course!
Emotional Intelligence Quotes #3
Emotional Intelligence Quote
It is very important to understand that Emotional Intelligence,
is not the opposite of Intelligence, it is not the triumph of
heart over head. It is the unique intersection of both.
- David Caruso
Lesson for improving your emotional intelligence skills
Intelligence is normally the area of reason. Of the conscious mind so to say. Whereas Emotional Intelligence seems to be the are of the emotions, or the unconscious mind. But nothing could further from the truth.
A crucial factor in Emotional Intelligence is that you need to be aware of the emotions of yourself and of others. This means that there need to be very good communication between your conscious mind and your unconscious mind. This is where NLP delivers very practical tools.
Emotional Intelligence Quotes #4
Emotional Intelligence Quote
As much as 80% of adult "success" comes from Emotional Intelligence.
- Daniel Goleman
Lesson for improving your emotional intelligence skills
All Human Beings are emotional creatures. As much as we think that we are rational, we are only fooling ourselves! All decisions are being made emotionally. Later on we find reasons why we decided in a particular manner.
While success in personal as in professional live is dependent on the quality of your decisions, you can only be successful when understanding, listenings to, becoming aware of and managing your emotions.
Emotional Intelligence Quotes #5
Emotional Intelligence Quote
Experience is not what happens to you;
It's how you interpret what happens to you.
- Aldous Huxley
Lesson for improving your emotional intelligence skills
Perception is Everything! The only experience you have, is the perception of that experience. This means that two people can experience the same event, while afterwards they tell different stories about that event. Because the perception of their reality, is totally different.
How we perceive things, is dependent on all kinds of filters our unconscious mind uses to filter what we see, hear, feel, smell and taste every second of the day.
It is important to understand that every person on the planet has it's own set of filters. Understanding the filters of your stakeholders is key to getting more influence over them.
Emotional Intelligence Quotes #6
Emotional Intelligence Quote
Holding on to anger, is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else: You are the one who gets burned!
- Buddha
Lesson for improving your emotional intelligence skills
Wherever you go in live as a person, you always first have to deal with yourself. So if you are angry at somebody else, you first feel the anger yourself. And if you hold on to that anger, you are the one who is constantly suffering form it. The other person is probably only experiencing a small portion of it.
So the next time you feel anger or resentment to somebody, try to forgive yourself first. Because in the end it is your perception what is causing the anger.
Emotional Intelligence Quotes #7
Emotional Intelligence Quote
The essential difference between emotion and reason, is that emotion leads to action, while reason leads to conclusions.
- Donald Calne
Lesson for improving your emotional intelligence skills
As already stated in quote #3 Emotional Intelligence lies in the intersection of Head and Heart.
We need the head (the reason) to determine our goals and directions and to lead our emotions into the right directions.
We need the heart (the emotions) to drive our actions.
This is why we need both reason/head and emotions/heart: the head is like the steering wheel of the car, while emotions are the engine. Without one of both, the car will not drive you to your goals. So you need them both and they need to communicate with each other in a well balanced way.
Emotional Intelligence Quotes #8
Emotional Intelligence Quote
Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
- Jack Welch
Lesson for improving your emotional intelligence skills
As stated in quote #1 the task of a leader is to let other people shine. Because your team is doing all the work and your only job is to let your team perform in the best possible way.
This means that you main goal as a leader must be to let your team grow and all individuals in your team as well. In the Smart Leadership Blueprint we will teach you that ultimate success as a leader when you and all your stakeholders are happy. Self-fulfilment is one of the greatest factors to make people happy. So if you can let your team grow, so that they will fulfil their greatest potential, then you have the happiest team on earth!
Conclusion
Emotional Intelligence Quotes can be very inspiring when it comes to Smart Leadership. Reading one or more quotes a day will help you to improve your insights and your emotional awareness when it comes to Emotional Intelligence.
Over to you
Please leave a comment below by telling us what your favourite quote is. And even better: if you have a beautiful quote yourself and you want to share this, do this also in the comment box below, so that I can incorporate your quote in the next version of this blog post!
Thank you already in advance for sharing your thoughts and insights!
About the Author
Harry Heijligers has more than 25 years of experience as a Project Manager and more than 17 years of experience as an NLP Trainer. He has a Dutch blog about NLP here: HarryHeijligers.com. If you'd like to know more about the Smart Leadership Hut, please check this: Smart Leadership Hut.