Over the last few years, I’ve learned more about the con­cept of Emo­tional Intel­li­gence, or EQ.  Daniel Gole­man describes those with a high EQ as hav­ing “abil­i­ties such as being able to moti­vate one­self and per­sist in the face of frus­tra­tions; to con­trol impulse and delay grat­i­fi­ca­tion; to reg­u­late one’s moods and keep dis­tress from swamp­ing the abil­ity to think; to empathize and to hope.”

Last week, I had a day that tested my EQ.  Actu­ally, it began the night before.

I had planned to get to bed early, so I could get plenty of sleep before wak­ing at 4am to catch a 6am flight with my boys.  We were on our way to Jack­son Hole, Wyoming to join some of our great friends and team­mates for four days of snow fun.

My wife and I got to bed early as planned, and then our phones started to ring at about 10:30pm.  Two hours later, we were on our way to see a fam­ily mem­ber who needed some urgent coun­cil.  It’s a bless­ing for us to be able to help, but my plan for a rest­ful night was now shot.  By the time I got back to bed, I got maybe an hour of sleep before the alarm went off.

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