5 reasons why being emotionally intelligent can actually be a bad thing

According to Psychology Today, emotional intelligence— which is commonly shortened to EI, EQ, or EIQ — is the “ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others.”

Although unlocking your emotions and being in tune with your feelings seem like incredible options for all, just like with anything, there’s some negative to that as well. Of course though, to those who inhabit EI, the bad things may be difficult to notice. And, if that happens to be you, here are five reasons why encompassing EI can actually be a bad thing.

You’ll do too much over analyzing.

Certified executive coach and author of "What You Don’t Know IS Hurting You: 4 Keys To A Phenomenal Career,"Marion E. Brooks told INSIDER that while being emotionally intelligent is often celebrated, it can also mean you have a habit of over analyzing things.

"You can over analyze things and become paralyzed in decision making and acting," Brooks said. "Emotionally intelligent people can become so busy trying to make sure they’re doing everything right, that they do nothing. The key is to evaluate different options to address the situation, and then identify the best action that helps you respond versus simply reacting. When exercising emotional intelligence, you always want to make sure you are responding versus reacting, but a decision has to be made. Some people will keep buffering and not make a decision. This can be almost as bad a reacting negatively."

You might start beating yourself up more.

If you tend to be really hard on yourself, you may be able to blame that on being emotionally intelligent.

“Emotionally intelligent people can also go from evaluating options to just beating themselves up,” Brooks told INSIDER. “They’re often hyper-aware of their own missteps. This can bring a lot of increased self-doubt over every little situation when it’s not necessary. People can start to think they should be evaluating themselves at every juncture throughout the course of the day and that’s not the case. The key is to take ownership for your missteps, then pivot to reflection to determine what you will do differently in the future to get your desired outcome.”

You have a tendency to let people take advantage of you.

According to Brooks, since emotionally intelligent people like to be pleasant with those around them, getting walked over is usually very common.

“Equating emotional intelligence with phoniness is also something that happens,” he said. “Some people think emotional intelligence means you need to be nice to everyone, or allow yourself to mistreated, or bullied. EQ just means you’re aware of your environment and managing yourself and your environment more effectively. It doesn’t mean you need to cower down to people and not push back. You just do it in a way that helps achieve your objective.”