The EI Compass: 3 Steps to Navigate Career Fog and Find Clarity
- Dilek Süzal
- Jun 17
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 23
When I first started coaching high-performing professionals stuck in career confusion, I expected to find missing LinkedIn profiles, weak resumes, or unclear goals. But what I kept finding instead was something deeper, more invisible:
They weren’t just unsure about what to do next, they were struggling to feel their way forward.
That was my wake-up call: clarity doesn’t come from strategy alone; it comes from Emotional Intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the actual ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively in everyday life.
Emotional Quotient (EQ) is a measure or score of someone’s emotional intelligence similar to how IQ measures cognitive intelligence.
Problem: Overthinking Without Feeling
When they hit a career plateau or identity shift (like relocation, promotion, burnout, or parenthood), many professionals default to over-analysis.
They plan more but feel less. They gather information but ignore intuition.
This disconnect creates “career paralysis”, stuck in your head, spinning in circles, exhausted by options but unable to take action.
Solution: Growing Your Emotional Intelligence to gain Career Clarity
In his 1995 book ‘Emotional Intelligence’, Daniel Goleman reveals:
Our emotional brain is faster and more influential than our rational brain, especially in decision-making.
Here are my few key insights from Goleman that apply directly to career clarity:
The Brain’s Emotional Architecture
The amygdala can hijack rational thinking when fear, anxiety, or uncertainty dominate. Recognizing and regulating this response helps us shift from survival mode to creative thinking, essential when reimagining a career.
The Neutral Zone
EI is about reading the emotions accurately and responding constructively. For example: That discomfort during job searching? It may signal misalignment, not failure.
The New Beginning
Goleman notes that less cortical arousal, a relaxed, embodied state, allows the brain to engage in creative, strategic thinking. Exercise, nature walks, and mindful movement aren’t distractions, they’re brain tools.
3 Surprising EI Practices for Career Clarity
🔹 #1 - Move to Think
If your thoughts are tangled, stop trying to untangle them while sitting still. Go for a walk or stretch. Movement lowers cortical arousal and re-engages your prefrontal cortex, the part responsible for planning and creativity.
🔹 #2 - Name the Emotion Behind the Question
Instead of only asking “What’s next?”, ask: ‘What emotion is fuelling this question? Is it fear, hope, pressure, guilt?’ When you name the emotion, you shift from reacting to responding, a hallmark of emotional intelligence.
🔹 #3 - Schedule Flow Moments (Not Just Tasks)
Goleman describes flow as full-body engagement with minimal mental resistance.
Ask yourself: What small activity brings me into flow? When was the last time I lost track of time in joy?
Add 15 minutes of that each day, it opens a channel for deeper clarity and creative insight.
In a rapidly changing world, emotional intelligence is the foundation of adaptive, values-aligned careers and organizations.
Let’s create spaces to practice it together!
Warmly,
Dilek
Official Collaboration Partners:
★ Lead Coach at the global coaching platform BetterUp based in USA.
★ Executive Coach and Trainer at SparkUs based in Turkey and Netherlands.
★ Impact Partner for coaching, training & facilitation projects at leadership experts Think Beyond Group based in Austria.
★ Leadership Coach at Percoms AG, based in Switzerland.
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