Every workplace, school, and community is filled with a copious selection of strengths, weaknesses, and emotions. Each individual greatly impacts the environment around him or her with his or her own personality and reaction capabilities. Successfully piloting how you manage and express your emotions will lead to strong emotional intelligence. The best performers within work, education, and life are those who are closely connected to and understanding of their own emotions. Here are some tips for improving upon your own emotional intelligence.

Wholeheartedly accept your flaws and strengths.
Although honing in on your strengths is crucial to succeeding in life, accepting your weaknesses is just as important. It is crucial to know, understand, and accept yourself. Admitting and sharing your vulnerabilities is the first step towards emotional intelligence, which will in turn improve your ability to handle stress. In addition, be acceptive of criticism and know how to filter through it. Whether or not you like it, many people will criticize you throughout your life. Some of this criticism will be constructive and productive, while some will just be negative. So long as you are self-aware, being emotionally intelligent means noticing and sorting through this negative criticism.

Bounce back from setbacks.
You must always believe that you have the necessary traits and capabilities to succeed. Regardless of failure, an unfaltering belief in personal success will allow you to always move past the obstacles thrown in your direction. This will allow you to continue doing what you love with less stress and allow nothing to hold you back. Moving on past adversity will allow you to enjoy living in the moment and connect with people who appreciate you. When you start to see self-criticism, it is important to recognize a setback and change your direction.

Change your perspective.
Staying calm to reduce negative emotions is easier said than done. Everyone wants to connect with their emotional intelligence, but suppressing negativity and self-doubt is not always the easiest task. However, changing the perspective you have towards your emotions before self-doubt creeps in is the only way to avoid letting your emotions take a blow. Know how to take social cues from others and take a step back from conflict before your emotions get out of hand. Before reacting, come up with multiple ways of viewing the situation and interpret it wisely. The truth is, people react the way they do because of themselves and their own emotions more so than as a reaction to you.

Work on your own mental health.
When you are able to connect with yourself, you can let go of doubtful thoughts. Working on your own mental health means letting go of the need to always receive approval from others. Working on yourself means focusing wisely on choosing only what you believe in and surrounding yourself with people who actually care and are good people. With positive people and a positive environment, you can connect better to your own work and leave behind a fear of rejection.