The most important tool you have in life is your organic, human, emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the capacity to be aware of, control and express your emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships wisely and empathetically.

In his bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (1995), American psychologist and author Daniel Goleman outlines 5 components of EI:

1. Self-awareness

Your conscious knowledge of your own character, thoughts, feelings and emotions.

2. Self-regulation

Your ability to understand and manage your behaviour and your reactions to feelings, situations, and events happening around you.

3. Motivation

Your personal drive to improve and achieve, your commitment to goals, initiative and readiness to act on opportunities, and your optimism and resilience.

4. Empathy

Your awareness and understanding of what others are feeling and experiencing.

5. Social skills

Your ability to combine all of the above in skilled relationships.

Each one of these emotional capacities is a function of self and social expression, which makes it a function of language.

This means your EI depends on your understanding of:

HOW language works, for you and on you;
HOW to use language, to identify and express yourself effectively in the world.

CRAFT | POLISH is 💯 about teaching you how language works and how to use it.