7 Ways Emotional Intelligence Can Help You Handle Year-End Stress

The end of the year is in sight, which means the time of planning, preparing, and projecting has begun for most businesses as they prepare for the coming year.

Year-end stress and anxiety are normal, but developing your emotional intelligence (EI) can go a long way towards managing your emotions and stress in a healthy way.

Not sure how EI applies to year-end stress? Keep reading to find out:

1. Recognize your emotions

Studies have shown that those with high levels of emotional intelligence are more resilient, and as a result are less likely to suffer from burnout and depression.

Why? Because learning to self-regulate helps us manage how our actions are driven by our emotions. After all: emotional intelligence training doesn’t reduce how much we feel something, but helps us learn how to navigate those feelings in healthy and constructive ways.

2. Learn your triggers

Emotional intelligence training helps you understand exactly what triggers your “fight or flight” response.

By developing a deeper understanding of our fears and triggers, we can identify when we start feeling anxious or upset, and alter our behaviors accordingly. Slowly, over time, you can learn to assess your triggers for what they are (emotional triggers) and allow them to come and go without affecting you.

3. You won’t demand perfection

One of the benefits of emotional intelligence development is that it creates opportunities for empathy, which helps increase our ability to manage others.

Perfectionism is tied to fears about failure and judgment, and those with high EI are able to better understand that mistakes do not define us, and that treating others with kindness is the best way to help them do their best – in business and in life.

4. You’ll enjoy the benefits of long-term goals

Individuals with high emotional intelligence understand delayed gratification, and are better able to communicate their vision with the people in their lives.

Sharing your wins with your team creates a sense of unity as you work towards those long-term, larger goals.

5. You’ll see more “big picture”

One of the biggest benefits to developing your emotional intelligence is that you’ll learn to reframe challenging situations in a more positive light.

For example, many of us receiving feedback on a project or campaign might internalize that feedback as evidence that we, personally, are a failure.

EI development helps us act with kindness to ourselves and others. We can tell ourselves “I have some more work to do” instead of “I’m a failure.” Someone with an optimistic worldview (and high emotional intelligence) can frame their experiences as learning opportunities.

6. You’ll delegate more effectively

Great managers and C-Suite leaders know what their weaknesses are and don’t allow themselves to be held back by them.

Emotional intelligence training helps us understand why we’re good at certain things, and not others, which can be helpful in deciding when (and how) to delegate tasks.

7. You can put down your mistakes

Emotionally intelligent leaders can recognize their mistakes but not dwell on them.

EI can help us learn to forgive ourselves, and feel empowered to apply what we’ve learned to future situations.

This is especially important at year-end, when most of us are taking stock of the last 365 days and preparing for the year ahead. Ask yourself: what is the most important lesson I’ve learned from this experience? And make a note of it for Q1 2020.

Start developing your emotional intelligence

Looking to get ahead in 2020? Start developing your emotional intelligence by registering for our upcoming certification in Saskatoon. Are you based elsewhere? Select one of our online certification offerings!

If you’re a woman working in a STEM field in Manitoba, make sure to register for our upcoming program with the Bioscience Association of Manitoba developed specifically for you!