Why is empathy one of the most important skills?
Of all the “practicable” skills, empathy is undoubtedly the most important, with it you can achieve greater professional and personal success, and putting it into practice will make you much happier.
Empathy is part of our emotional intelligence and is defined as our ability to perceive, share and understand the feelings and emotions of others, based on the recognition of the other person as a being who suffers, loves and suffers just like us. Furthermore, it is related to being aware of and respecting the differences of free thought.
You must be alert and not confuse empathy with sympathy. The first one as we said before has to do with the emotional connections that are born with other people, while the second one is linked to the way you treat a person naturally.
The key to being empathetic is not to judge other people. You should simply put yourself in the other person’s place without placing your opinion of good or bad on them according to your experiences. In general, empathic people have less prejudices and accept others as they are.
Benefits of being empathetic
If we all internalized the above definition we would probably make the world a little better, but let’s go deeper into this issue. Developing this virtue will help you:
- To better understand the needs of the people around you
- Connect more quickly with others; making them feel comfortable with your company
- It reinforces professional and personal relationships, and makes them lasting over time.
- Your words and actions will be more aware
- You learn to communicate better, developing skills to convey ideas
- Generates greater capacity for love
- Accepting social differences without judgment
- Develop the ability to more accurately predict the actions and reactions of those who interact with you.
- Improve interpersonal conflict resolution skills at work and at home
How to be empathetic and not die trying
The first thing you should do is open your mind and heart, this way it will be easier for you to consciously listen to what people want to communicate to you, as well as consider what the feelings and motivation behind the speaker are. Take into account what life experiences lead you to perceive each circumstance of life. From these actions it will be easy to put yourself in the other’s place. This all seems very obvious, but from the moment you start practicing empathy, you will quickly see the benefits it brings.
You have to know the difference when someone simply wants us to listen to them to let off steam, or on top of that, expects us to give them our point of view about the situation. There are times when people don’t want any advice. So wait until you get all the information and you’ll avoid passing on something they don’t want to hear.
If you want to improve your quality of life, it is important that you develop skills that allow you to achieve your goals without having to overlook the needs of those around you. Learn to be empathetic and you will see that it will be easier to relate and reach your goals.
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