Week #46 — Commitment To Success And Wealth

One of the key ways to make sure our commitment remains strong is to develop willpower and the ability to delay gratification. Walter Mischel, a psychologist at Stanford University, performed a study that has come to be called the “marshmallow test.” He invited groups of four-year-olds into a room and gave each of them a marshmallow. He told them they could eat their marshmallow now or they could wait fifteen to twenty minutes and be rewarded with a second marshmallow when he came back. Many of the children were able to hold out, but there were some who couldn’t wait. After the study was over, Mischel followed all the children to see how they performed in life. The results were startling. He found that the kids who were able to delay gratification were twice as likely to be successful academically, socially, and emotionally than those who could not wait. While in high school, the kids who had exhibited willpower had better grades and scored 210 points higher on their SATs than those who had not.