Understanding the impact of your emotions
How do you feel today? For some people this is an easy question but for others it can be a struggle to label exactly how they feel.
We are constantly experiencing and being influenced by emotions, whether we are aware of them or not. So, being able to recognise how you are feeling and the impact this is having on yourself and others is an essential skill for both life and the workplace.
This is also known as emotional self-awareness which refers to the tendency to recognise how you are feeling and to understand why you are feeling that way. It includes being aware of the impact these emotions can have on your thoughts and behaviours and understanding the subtle nuances between different emotions.
Here are just 3 reasons why emotional self-awareness is so important in the workplace:
1. Emotional self-awareness is often considered the foundation of emotional intelligence. Being emotionally self-aware helps you to label your feelings and it is only by knowing and understanding your emotions that you can start to manage and control them. For example, you can’t start using coping strategies for stress if you don’t even know whether or not you feel stressed!
2. Someone with high levels of emotional self-awareness tends to understand the causes of their emotions. This makes it easier to predict how you will react to different situations at work as you will recognise your emotional triggers. Identifying these triggers also means you can better prepare how you will respond if and when they appear which can help you remain calm and composed in front of your colleagues.
3. Without emotional self-awareness, you are likely to be oblivious to the effect your emotions are having on your job performance and working relationships. For example, you may not understand why you are suddenly making more mistakes in your work and how this could be resolved. If you were more emotionally self-aware, you would realise you felt upset and this was negatively impacting your performance. You might decide to take a break from the task until your mood improved, or ensure you double checked everything while you felt this way.
So, if you want to better understand your emotions, the impact they have on your work, and how they can be managed, consider developing your emotional self-awareness.
Learn more about developing your emotional intelligence today with EQ Extra.