More than several years ago, I used to write a column entitled “The Mind Game.” The column focused on the mental and psychological aspects of sport performance. After an “extended sabbatical,” and a new realization of how important emotional intelligence can be in everyday life, I decided to return to writing. The overall purpose of this column will be to dive into the concepts that contribute to building emotional intelligence or as some would say “EQ.”
In general, Emotional Intelligence (EI) can be defined as the “the ability to understand what you are thinking and feeling in a given moment, and how to use those thoughts and feelings to achieve an intended outcome.” The two major components of EI are self-awareness, and awareness of others (often referred to as social awareness). Self-awareness is further divided into awareness of thoughts, and awareness of feelings.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of emotional intelligence is that it is recognized as one of the seven types of intelligences (Gardner). That’s right, although many of us only think of mathematical-logical as being the primary form of intelligence, there are others such as linguistic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, existential, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. The last two types, comprise emotional intelligence.
Future columns will focus on the specifics of self-awareness, awareness of others, how to get better at each, and how the components of emotional intelligence can help to improve your performance in sports. As a bonus, this improvement can help with many other parts of your life.
