Your personal growth and development lie in your ability to be coachable. In order to grow, you must be willing to take a good hard look at yourself, and that often starts with getting feedback from others.

Though coachability is important in all aspects of life, it’s particularly true in boxing. To push yourself to success you need to be willing to let your coach take the lead. You need to challenge your own beliefs about your abilities and capabilities.

Being coachable means you need to master your emotions – you need to understand how you feel, why you feel, and how to utilize those feelings for success. You need to learn to absorb feedback from others without getting defensive or offended. In other words, being coachable requires emotional intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence: The Other Kind of Smart

Intelligence is something highly regarded in our society. After all, intelligence will get you a good job, it will help you understand the world around you, and it will get you through math class! But, it’s not just things that you need to know. You also need to know your inner self.

To navigate through this world you don’t just need to know that a + b = c. You need to understand your emotions – what they mean, how to use them to your advantage, and how to control the negatives and increase the positives. You also need to understand others – how to interact with people, empathize with people, and how to manage social situations.

Emotional intelligence is defined as “the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.” This concept became popular after Daniel Goleman’s groundbreaking research on the subject. In fact, Goleman’s research has indicated that emotional intelligence is often a better indicator of leadership performance than a high IQ.

A person’s IQ (intelligence quotient) measures academic performance. A person’s EQ (emotional quotient) measures a person’s emotional intelligence. According to Goleman, EQ is usually a better indicator of success in performance situations and is used to identify leaders and good team players. Emotional intelligence is the “other kind of smart” that will allow you to Become Unstoppable.

How Knowing Thyself Leads to Success

There is no denying that being coachable is fundamental to your success, both in and out of the ring. Considering another person’s feedback or gaining insight from someone who has overcome a similar challenge is what will help you to develop a growth mindset. A growth mindset teaches you to focus on learning over just looking smart.

Being coachable requires a resilient attitude, controlled emotions, and a willingness to learn. You have to be able to take in honest feedback and frank criticism. You have to acknowledge where there may be room for improvement.

The ladder to success leaves no room for defensiveness or high egos in constant need of stroking. To be truly coachable, to be truly successful, you need to acquire emotional intelligence.

Someone who has a high EQ is a confident person who can take personal feedback and use it grow, rather than internalize it. This person also understands how to give feedback to others in a professional and empathetic manner.

Developing Emotional Intelligence to Become Coachable

Just as you can improve your IQ by studying, you can also improve your EQ by practicing the right skills. Here are some important skills that will develop your emotional intelligence to help you become coachable:

Reflect on Your Emotions

To become emotionally intelligent you must first understand your emotions. It sounds easy, but emotions are highly complex and not always rational. Therefore, it’s important to reflect on your emotions in order to become more familiar with them.

Therefore, it is important to reflect on significant happenings within your day. Pay particular attention to moments when you felt extreme emotions, such as anger, fear, sadness, or joy. Simply take a mental note of these reactions so you can use that knowledge to manage your emotions in future situations.

Identifying your emotions is the starting point to building mindfulness and control in your everyday reactions and interactions.

Take a Breath

Have you ever said something in a fit of anger that you immediately regretted afterward? Have you ever been in a situation where you had to defend yourself or your beliefs and only later you think of the right words to say?This doesn’t just happen in upsetting situations. How many times have you jumped on an opportunity that looked good, only to later realize it probably wasn’t the best choice?

Emotions are not a bad thing. However, when they are not controlled they have a way of clouding our thoughts. One of the best tools you can use to develop emotional intelligence is to take a breath before you speak or act. Hitting the pause button to collect your thoughts creates the habit of thinking first. It’s not always easy to put into practice, but the more you try the better at it you will become.

Ask for Other’s Perspectives

People view us much differently than we view ourselves, which can give us a lot of insight into who we really are. By getting the perspective of someone else, such as a coach, or even close friends, we can learn how to view ourselves from the outside. This knowledge can help you to determine what areas you need to improve upon.

Be a Student

The most important part of building emotional intelligence, being coachable, and reaching continued success, is to be a lifelong student. You might be an “expert” in your field, whether that be CEO of a company, top athlete in your sport, or head student in your class. Whatever the case may be, never develop the mindset of “I know it all.”

Life’s a journey of growth and in order to continue to grow, you have to continue to learn. Let go of what you think you know and allow others to be your teacher. Open up your mind to new experiences, thoughts, knowledge, and possibilities.

Put your coachability skills to the test by getting started with a Gloveworx coach today!