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&#x2019;t matter <.>
- if you were a grabber it doesn&#x2019;t make you a failure
- We control our destiny
- an action we performed when we were 4 doesn&#x2019;t determine the outcome of our entire lives
- That being said...
- Mischel&#x2019;s test does show a strong correlation between grabbers and those who can&#x2019;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 &#x201C;debt snowball&#x201D; to help you control impulsive spending
- The &#x201C;Pomodoro&#x201D; 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&#x2019;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&#x2019;re motivated by money, don&#x2019;t start a non-profit!
- My father always told me to &#x201C;make your weakest link your strongest&#x201D;
- 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!
- Set yourself up for success and you will succeed!
