There’s school smart, street smart, business smart, but we tend to forget about feelings smart: emotional intelligence. Like your ability to think critically, your ability to read and express emotions can be developed. 

As a Lifehacker reader, you probably spend some portion of your life actively trying to live better. That can look like a lot of things, but it usually includes trying to be as productive as possible. Constantly pushing yourself to be productive, however, can get pretty stressful.

There are lots of arguments for the respective benefits to freelancing versus full-time employment. It still seems like there are more freelancers every year, and fewer people get to choose. And in any case, one of the notable downsides of freelancing is the marked lack of stability.

The Geminid meteor shower has been raining down on us the past few days, and if you want to see it, tonight is the best night.

All parties have their awkward moments, but navigating yourself in a room of co-workers with an open bar feels especially high-stakes. Here are some tips for how to talk to everyone from your boss to your intern so that you can return to work on Monday morning, head held high.

It’s too much to expect that you never argue with your lover, spouse, or partner in romantic crime. Here’s how you can make that argument more of a productive discussion than a constant stream of bickering.

If you’re waiting for the perfect person to show up and accompany you on something as big as the trip of a lifetime or as small as to see your favorite band, stop waiting. Just go.

We are deep in what may be the most stressful time of the year—and that’s for people who like the holidays. The travel, the expense, the family dynamics: end of the year celebrations can make a Grinch out of anyone. Here’s how you can get into the holiday spirit without being taught a lesson by various ghosts.

There are many demands on our time, especially after we’re partnered, with kids, or other family obligations. In a perfect world, it would be easy to prioritize our relationships. For many, getting away from work to be with family is not just difficult; work is an addiction.

There are so many credit card scams out there right now, it feels hard to protect your plastic. Start with learning when it’s a bad idea to share your credit card info over the phone.

Some people are great at getting exactly the right thing and at a good price, too; for those of us who panic-buy a bottle of wine at the last minute, it might help to think of gift shopping from a different perspective.

Burger King is trolling its biggest competitor—to the benefit of anyone who wants an extremely good deal on a burger. Here’s how you can take advantage.

Worrying rarely solves anything, but many of us just can’t resist doing it whenever we should be doing something else. Instead of letting worry distract you from your life, set aside a special time for it.

Talking to strangers in a crowded room where everyone wants something from each other is a true nightmare, and at times it’s the most direct path to career development. But there is another way to network—from behind a computer screen.

If you have even an ounce of ambition in your profession, there are gonna be times other people are getting what you want: promotions, accolades, press.

Admitting you need help can be really hard, especially when you’re being paid for your competency. But the reality is, we all need help sometimes, and learning to ask for it at work will make things better for everyone.

Winter is no longer coming, it’s here, but for some reason we still have to leave the house. If you’re dreading the work it will take to make your car drivable, here’s a relatively easy snow-clearing method.

It’s hard to keep all your balls in the air, but a little multi-tasking can help—until you drop them all over the floor because you also tried to answer a text or something. There are times when doing two things at once will make you less effective than focusing on one task. Here’s how to tell when that’s happened.

Procrastination is a vice many of us indulge in, and there’s a reason it’s so hard to quit. However, the long term effects of putting things off are actually hurting your brain.

Workplace culture varies widely across fields, but most people would agree that there isn’t a lot of room for human weakness in most offices. For the emotionally intelligent person, however, a little vulnerability can actually give you a surprising amount of power.