The link to the experiment footage is at the end of this article.
They presented hundreds of young kids with a choice: “here is a marshmallow. I’m going to leave this room for 15 min and if this marshmallow is still here when I get back, I’ll give you two marshmallows. But, if you eat the marshmallow while I’m gone – that’s all you get”
Eating the marshmallow = instant gratification
Waiting and not eating the marshmallow = the better option (because more mallows)
Nearly 66% of the kids ate the mallow. 34% struggled, fought the urge, resisted, and ended up scoring TWO mallows! (haha – watch some of the strategies they used in the video).
KEY POINT
They waited 15 years and tracked down all of the kids. The group of non-mallow eaters were out-achieving the mallow-eaters in almost every way possible.
They were getting better grades, had better relationships, were accepted into better schools, were happier, and generally more successful.
Why? Because the non-mallow eaters displayed an important skill: the ability to delay gratification. And this skill is useful in virtually everything we do.
THOUGHT FOR FOOD
While reading about the experiment and especially when I was watching the footage from the Ted talk I found myself thinking: “You IDIOTS don’t eat that marshmallow!! Just wait and it will be wayyyyyy better – how can you not see that!!!??” **face-palm**
But then I realized that we live this experiment every single day. And on every single day most of us (especially me) eat the mallow…
THE FAMOUS MARSHMALLOW EXPERIMENT
THE ART OF PLAYING THE LONG GAME
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