Why Is Emotional Intelligence Crucial In The Development Of An Individual

One thing you can’t hide, is when you’re crippled inside — John Lennon

Most of us are conditioned to believe that our ability to process and grasp information is the single most crucial factor to determine our success rate in life. Many of us define this ability of ours as the sole factor of intelligence.

This interpretation of intelligence begins for us from a young age. Since the time I was in school, I always thought that the outcome of intelligence is to rank as the best in every field. Technically that is enough, I mean, ranking first is a clear indicator of you being at the top of the game, and the assumption is that you will succeed, as long as you continue to do what you are doing.

The assumption that one will succeed in life by memorising the content of a book or winning in the numbers race in life to come first or second couldn’t be further from the reality of the situation.

Think about this, Christopher Langan, who is considered to be the smartest person in the world with an IQ of over 190, worked as a labourer and bouncer for most of his life. To put things in perspective, Albert Einstein had an IQ of 160, and he went on to develop the theory of relativity, which is one of the pillars of modern physics.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be a bouncer or a labourer. However, this begs the question of why wouldn’t the smartest person in the world spend his time working on something significant to all of humankind?

This is where the concept of Emotional Intelligence comes in. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to identify and understand your own emotions and the emotions of others. A lack of EQ in a person is mostly the reason that she/he is unable to progress in life or make peace with their choices or who they are at a deeper level.

Simply put, the lack of EQ is the point of mental stagnation from which we can never return. This is because our ability to process and progress mentally is not being challenged anymore, thus limiting our scope of development.

While Christopher Langan had the highest IQ, he certainly did not have the highest EQ, which is half the reason if not more, that determines your