How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Page 431
The first key skill of emotional intelligence is the ability to quickly calm
yourself down when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Being able to manage
stress in the moment is the key to resilience. This emotional intelligence
skill helps you stay balanced, focused, and in control–no matter what
challenges you face.
Stress busting: functioning well in the heat of the moment
Develop your stress busting skills by working through the following
three steps:
Realize when you’re stressed – The first step to reducing stress
is recognizing what stress feels like. Many of us spend so much
time in an unbalanced state that we’ve forgotten what it feels
like to be calm and relaxed.
Identify your stress response – Everyone reacts differently to
stress. Do you tend to space out and get depressed? Become
angry and agitated? Freeze with anxiety? The best way to
quickly calm yourself depends on your specific stress response.
Discover the stress busting techniques that work for you – The
best way to reduce stress quickly is through the senses: through
sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. But each person responds
differently to sensory input, so you need to find things that are
soothing to you.
Emotional intelligence (EQ) skill 2: Connect to your emotions
The second key skill of emotional intelligence is having a moment-tomoment awareness of your emotions and how they influence your
thoughts and actions. Emotional awareness is the key to understanding
yourself and others.
Many people are disconnected from their emotions–especially strong
core emotions such as anger, sadness, fear, and joy. But although we can
distort, deny, or numb our feelings, we can’t eliminate them. They’re still
there, whether we’re aware of th V