I find this a good illustration of these four attributes as they are interconnected and also specific unto the themselves. A person can have a great self management attribute but lack a certain amount of social awareness. That being said, having a strong affinity in each category makes for a higher level of emotional intelligence and, it is hoped, a better leader. Two of Goleman's talks can be found here and here and they are well worth the watch.
For me, I find that my strengths lean more towards social skills and social awareness. Both of the fields are important to my work and thus I "practice" them more than I do self awareness. Often by the end of the day I am too tired for much introspection as it can be exhaustive to attempt to stay connected to others eight or more hours a day. Staying practiced in social skills and social awareness does keep them sharp but at a price; they tend to burn out. More on that later.
The two areas where I am less successful are self awareness and self management. Self-awareness feeds a great deal in my work as I have to know what triggers certain emotional responses in myself. My clients can be sex-offenders, murderers, or the parts of society that exist on the fringes that, in my opinion, most of society is trying to ignore. But knowing a trigger is different than examining the "why" of a trigger and I reflect enough to get through the day but it helps that I am professionally obligated to keep my personal emotions out of treatment planning. I can't decide to avoid helping someone because they were convicted of child molestation. That being said, much like schoolwork, being forced to do something can make someone better at it by benefit of repetition. I do think that I could use more self-directed practice in self-awareness but it isn't far behind the social side of the paradigm.
However, self management is where I suffer. I am impulsive by nature and run more in instinct than I do introspection. That isn't to say I act without reason because I value reason so much more than I do most anything else. Where I struggle is that I forge ahead with projects or ideas and forget some of the details that would make those ideas or projects work. I then have to go back and tidy up those details before I get things back on track. I'm getting better at it but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a blind spot at times.
Emotional Intelligence is more complex than a simple blog post can really encapsulate and this post is limited to strengths and weaknesses and mostly regarding my work. One final point is that emotional intelligence can be tiring. I am forced to apply a certain amount of emotional intelligence on a daily basis as I am sure many are. The constant introspection and internal checks and balances that emotional intelligence can demand is tiring if a person does not practice some form of self-renewal. The resonant leader concept stresses self-renewal right up front as it is demanding and effective leaders will take time for themselves as well. In some ways it is acceptable to "turn off" the emotional intelligence in the quiet moments and "just be" even though, with practice, emotional intelligence becomes less of a skill and more of a state of being and thus less tiring.
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