Home

The Master Aptitude

“To the degree that our emotions get in the way of or enhance our ability to think and plan, to pursue training for a distant goal, to solve problems and the like, they define the limits of our capacity to use our innate mental abilities, and so determine how we do in life. And to the degree to which we are motivated by feelings of enthusiasm and pleasure in what we do - or even by an optimal degree of anxiety - they propel us to accomplishment. It is this sense othat emotional intelligence is a master aptitude, a capacity that profoundly affects all other abilities, either facilitating or interfering with them.”

From Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman.

Impulse Control: The Marshmallow Test

Can You Pass the Marshmallow Test?

Everyone likes to enjoy life, but are you willing to deny yourself a little pleasure now for a lot more, later? That decision is more important than you may think.

The little boy had an interesting choice. He’d been given a marshmallow, a sweet treat he really enjoyed. Then he was told that he could eat it right away or, if he would refrain from eating it, he would be given an extra one to eat. To receive a second marshmallow, all he had to do was wait a few minutes. What choice would he make? What choice would you make?

Which of these choices a child makes is a telling tet; it offers a quick reading not just of character, but of the trajectory that child will probably take through life.