By: Catherine Sorbara, PhD, Cheeky Scientist1 Dr. Sorbara is an expert in Academic Emotional Intelligence and has written several articles to share knowledge of the success impact factors. In the following, she shares research and perspectives on how to recognize and overcome EQ challenges: No one is immune to self-questioning and everyone has moments where they secondguess whether they have what it takes to overcome their EQ challenges and achieve their goals. Is it time for you to STOP and take a step back to assess the emotions you are feeling and why you are feeling them? Is it time to put your self-care first? Through it all, most PhDs manage to stay emotionally balanced through extreme situation. As a result, PhDs develop what is called academic emotional intelligence. Academic Emotional Intelligence Skills That PhDs Have: Emotionally intelligent people get angry, sad, and even have outbursts. They key is that emotionally intelligent people know how to express the right emotions at the right times. It is not a talent that you have to be born with. Not the case. Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be developed over time. During the PhD program you will do just that – learn how to develop your academic emotional intelligence. There are correlations with emotional intelligence self-management and what PhDs have to face in a doctoral program such as:  Taking criticism  Having thoughtful discussions on complex issues  Dealing with difficult advisors and committee members  Showing empathy towards fellow graduate students and helping each other You gained self-management and relationship management skills that allowed you to overcome your tyrannical advisor, the endless number of experimental failures, the pressure to complete your degree, pressure to get your papers published, and get your next grant funded. 1 Catherine Sorbara, PhD, Cheeky Scientist 2 Five Academic Emotional Intelligence Skills: These skills will help you get hire in industry2 and help you be successful in your doctoral program: 1. Ability to embrace challenge – getting a PhD, finding solutions to complicated scientific phenomena, created hypotheses to disprove, stayed calm under pressure 2. Ability to recognize personal strengths and weaknesses – you learn to collaborate with experts to complete projects. You recognize that by asking for help, you improve your own knowledge base. This is called self-awareness 3. Ability to let go of mistakes – if you wallowed in self-pity over mistakes, you would never graduate. Instead you learn from your mistakes. PhDs fail forward 4. Ability to deal with constructive criticism – you learn to respond to criticism without being defensive and to be grateful for the feedback. You don’t have the luxury of being defensive or argumentative during the program 5. Ability to resolve conflict effectively – academia is often rife with conflict that can arise from anywhere. You have to find a way to work cohesively or risk prolonging your academic career. You have no choice but to find peaceful resolutions and not let toxic people prevent you from moving forward