Mischel's Marshmallows

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Notes on slide 1

I’m Joe Fiorini
I am a software artisan at Within3
and a general geek
I love my Mac, my wife, and have a dog named Fozzie

- In the 1960s psychologist Walter Mischel noticed something about his daughters
- Around the age of 4 they stopped throwing tantrums when they wanted something
- They now had the ability to put off pleasure in order for a greater reward

- To find out why he organized experiments using his daugthers’ classmates
- He wanted to see what would happen when kids were presented with a marshmallow and told if they waited 20 minutes without grabbing it, they would get two marshmallows

- Then he sweetened the pot.
- He used Oreos instead of Marshmallows!
- Oh the cruelty!
- Then something interesting happened...

- A few years later, Mischel checked up on the kids from the study
- He found out that the ones who were grabbers were doing significantly worse than the others

- He decided to follow these kids through adolescence and into adulthood
- The results showed grabbers had lower grades, SAT scores, salaries and were less likely to go to college

- Mischel noticed a difference in the personalities of the grabbers and those who left the marshmallow
- The kids who were more patient had strategies to hold themselves back

- Each kid was different
- One turned around, one sat under the table, another made up songs
- But each of these kids used tricks to control his/her impulses
The first thing that came into my head after hearing that story was:

- Would I have grabbed the marshmallow?
- Think about it for a few seconds...

- But this study raises an important question:
- Were the grabbers destined to fail in life?
- To answer that, I say:

- It doesn’t matter <.>
- if you were a grabber it doesn’t make you a failure
- We control our destiny
- an action we performed when we were 4 doesn’t determine the outcome of our entire lives

- That being said...
- Mischel’s test does show a strong correlation between grabbers and those who can’t stick to their goals
- Obviously, many, many people lead happy satisfying lives. How is this possible?

- Weight Watchers uses a points system to help you control eating
- while teaching healthy eating habits

- Dave Ramsey pushes budgeting and building a “debt snowball” to help you control impulsive spending

- The “Pomodoro” technique of working for 25 minutes/breaking for 5
- helps people get work done in chunks without being distracted

- The ability to withhold self-gratification is given at birth
- However, we can see that tricks and strategies can be learned
- I’m going to leave you with what has helped me

- One of the great philosophers said man, know thyself
- This is about knowing who you are
- and creating the world that you want to live in

Breaking it down further...
- Need to know what motivates you
- Use that to discipline yourself
- If you’re motivated by money, don’t start a non-profit!

- My father always told me to “make your weakest link your strongest”
- For example, I find it very hard to focus on one project for a long time
- Therefore I try to work on very small projects instead of large ones

- Set yourself up for success and you will succeed!