Why IQ will never beat EQ in life

There is a lot of research and knowledge around IQ and why wouldn’t there be?

Being intelligent is the key to success, right?

Humm well here is what you need to know.

IQ is what measures our intellectual, analytical, logical and rational abilities.?

Growing up we are told we need to do well in school, and by doing so we become smart, boosting our intelligence giving us the opportunity to succeed and do well in life.?

Our IQ is concerned with verbal, spatial, visual and mathematical skills.?

Ultimately it gauges how we learn new things, can focus on tasks, retain and recall objective information and manipulate numbers.?

Most people, around 68% have an average IQ with only a small fraction of people having a very low IQ (below 70) or a very high IQ (above 130).

How does it feel to know that there's a good chance you have an ‘average’ IQ?

Does this mean for those of us who have an average IQ, success is not an option?

The truth is our IQ becomes fixed at around age 16. And yes while going to school and having a good education will absolutely help in developing your IQ it isn’t the only contributing factor.?

Environmental factors also play a huge role in the development of your IQ.?

Factors such as; good nutrition, musical training in childhood, lower incidence of infectious diseases and of course being in a loving, supportive environment whilst growing up.?

It's no secret that many successful people have average IQs so the question is?what is their secret to success??

While our IQ scores can give us important insights into our intelligence, it does fail to measure broader definitions of intellect, like creativity, curiosity, and social intelligence.

We as humans are social creatures, the pandemic has certainly proven this with many people suffering from loneliness.?

We are designed to interact and taking it a step further we have an even greater gift that needs to be recognised and nurtured.?

And that gift is the ability to feel, and connect with others on a deep level.?

The problem is not all of us are aware of this, so where do we start, and how does this become such an important factor in our lives?

Self-perception or awareness which is a more familiar term to many of us is the starting point.?

Once we master this we then have a greater power to express ourselves in a way that allows us to effectively connect with others.?

As I said we are designed to interact, and communication is key in all of life's situations.

I want you to bring a conversation to mind where you have recently dealt with someone, and it seems they haven't listened to a word you have said.?

What do you put this down to, is that person rude? Is it that they don’t respect you??

Are they emotionally in a bad place or just seem to be having a bad day??

Or maybe it's you and you didn’t make yourself clear enough.?

Most of the time our natural response is to blame the other person, but often the miscommunication is due to a lack of self-perception which then hinders your ability to express yourself in a clear neutral manner.?

Let's get real here, no one likes to be spoken at, but equally not confidently speaking up can cause just as many issues.

So what drives this thought process if it has nothing to do with our IQ??

It is all thanks to a part of our brain called the amygdala which is responsible for keeping you safe!?

Now you may be thinking I was only having a conversation and the outcome is that I wasn’t heard, it doesn't mean I am not safe.?

And while this is true your amygdala which is programmed from emotional memory, responds purley from that emotion rather than the neocortex part of your brain.

So when you feel like you haven't been heard your amygdala starts to work first, and here's the thing. Our emotions hit us faster than our thoughts, which means we will react from an emotion before we have the chance to think clearly and respond.??

Self-perception and self-expression are the first set of skills that are looked at on the EQ scale.?

One of the sub-scales is Emotional Self-Awareness. Someone who scores high in this scale will have their amygdala figured out and their ability to communicate clearly and effectively becomes flawless.?

So what is EQ??

EQ is short for Emotional Quotient, a term which is also used for EQ today is ‘emotional intelligence’? which is what many of us know it as.?

When you are high in EQ you have the ability to reflectively regulate your emotions in a way that promotes emotional and intellectual growth.

You have a great capacity to objectively assess your strengths, being open to viewing and challenging your limitations, mistaken assumptions, unacknowledged biases and short sighted beliefs. Being high in EQ also gives you the ability to read political and social environments, and landscape them in a way that gives results. Thus remaining unfazed in stressful situations and being engaging, becoming the kind of person others want to be around.?

So yes, while IQ is of course important it isn't the key to success, EQ however which can be developed throughout your lifetime is an important factor to living a happy and successful life.?

Curious to learn more about your EQ?

Get in touch.

Rebecca P Fox

EQ Consultant, Mindset and High Performance Specialist?

Rebecca P Fox ? August 2021

Email: [email protected]