I am often asked who is the most intelligent person I know. The truth be told, intelligence is so subjective and you can interpret it in so many ways. Does the title belong to the group of people that landed humans on the moon? Does it belong to Jose Salvador Alvarenga who was adrift at sea for 438 days and survived? Surviving that long at sea alone requires a level of intelligence I cannot even imagine. I guess we can also throw Terence Tao into the mix who has the highest IQ in the world, currently sitting at 230. What about Tom Brady? Yep Tom Brady. How could I possibly group him into this company?
A few weeks ago, the Buccaneers were facing the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. In what turned out to be Tom Brady’s last game, he was asked immediately afterwards what his plans were for 2022. The reporters kept asking him are you retiring? Are you going to give it another go? And they kept asking the same question again and again in thirty different ways. Brady looked at the room and kept saying “I haven’t put a lot of thought into it. We’ll just take it day by day.” No matter how many times they asked he kept putting the question back to him thinking about the game that just happened and he will have to take it day by day on the decision. To me, this was one of the most intelligent acts I have seen in a long time by a professional athlete.
Emotional intelligence is something that is overlooked in the classroom and society. It’s the simplest rule in all of decision making: Never make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion. The ability to control your emotions and to understand your emotions, allows us to make better decisions in high pressure situations. It’s something my wife has been trying to tell me for the last 23 years together and yet I make the same mistake every single time. I act without thinking. Two weeks ago, an old friend of ours called to tell me about his latest adventure. He has been working at a private school on the islands for the last two years, trying to soak in every last ounce of sunshine and teaching he has left in him. My wife and I both worked for him twenty years ago on the North Shore of Chicago. He was by far one of the best and most influential people in my teaching career. His offer to us, leave the life in Colorado and come out to the islands to teach with him. We started our career on the North Shore of Chicago with him, and now finish it on the North Shore of Oahu. The message could not have come at a better time. We just finished shoveling the driveway from yet another Colorado 6 inches of snow in two hours. I looked at my wife and she said “NO!” For the next five days, I threw out subtle hint after subtle hint. Thankfully, my wife being the most intelligent person I know, did not let the temporary emotion make a permanent decision.
Life is filled with twists and turns, ups and downs, and despite the intelligence we believe we have, there is always someone better and smarter. Smarts and intelligence come in a variety of ways but the smartest people are always those who can truly think before they act.