The eminent psychologist, Walter Mischel, created one of the most important lessons of our age. He studied four-year-old children at Stanford kindergarten. After placing a marshmallow in front of each child, he explained that he would be gone for fifteen minutes. If the child would wait to eat the treat until the good doctor returned, and only if she/he waited, Mischel would give them two marshmallows. He left, the clock started, and a hidden camera recorded the wait.
Most children consumed the confection in a few seconds. A few highly creative children did things like licking the bottom of the sweet object of desire and then turning it over to hide evidence of their acts. One of the most enterprising subjects carefully opened the cube, scooped the insides out, and then sealed it to cover the theft. The most remarkable, and smallest group (I would not have been in this group), waited the entire fifteen minutes.
Mischel followed up forty years after the initial experiment. He found that on virtually every measure of what we might call life success (health, college performance, marriage, happiness, professional advancement, financial earnings, etc.), those who waited significantly outperformed all others. As you might guess, the ability to delay gratification, or as a psychologist might say "to exercise inhibitory control," is the key to victory. Mischel went to his grave two years ago, trying to explain that the lesson is not merely that some have this capability, and others don't. He demonstrated that everyone could learn self-control, and it was never too late to do so.
I am tired of social distancing, masks, gloves, constant hand washing, bodyweight exercise routines in the living room, and Zoom meetings. However, as Mischel would tell me, in 40 years, those who learn self-control will have made a difference for themselves and future generations.
It's never too late,
Fred
Fred Harburg is a PathNorth Senior Fellow and Clinical Professor of Executive Education and co-Academic Director of the Advanced Management Program at the Kellogg School of Management. Previously, he served in the positions of Chief Learning Officer and President of Motorola University, was the Senior Vice President for Leadership and Learning at Fidelity Investments and was the Chief Learning Officer at Williams Energy.