Day 5 - Honestly didn't feel like writing today, but day five seems like a pitiful day to quit a thirty day challenge. Although, if I'm honest, it's probably about average for things that I quit .... I'm trying to be better, so onward!
Video of the day - Joachim de Posada: Don't eat the marshmallow! (http://www.ted.com/talks/joachim_de_posada_says_don_t_eat_the_marshmallow_yet.html)
Thumbnail quote - None provided.
Why I chose this video - [today I wrote this before actually watching the video] I was intrigued by the title. Yup. What kind of valuable advice can that possibly be? Don't eat the arsenic - makes sense. Skip over the cyanide? Obvious. Avoid excessive amounts of fatty or sugary or processed foods? Logical. But what on earth did marshmallows do to receive such prejudice? I have to know.
Summary - Alright. I have been duped. This talk was about messing with little kids' minds. It's all about delayed gratification. Oh shoot ... and as I'm typing this, I'm realizing this actually does have application in my life. Dang. Anyhow. It has to do with the experiment of putting four-year-olds in a room and giving them a marshmallow. The child is told that the researcher will be back in 15 minutes and if the marshmallow is still there, they will get another marshmallow and can eat both. 2/3 children eat the marshmallow.
When researchers followed up with these kids later in life, almost all of the people who came from the group that did NOT eat the marshmallow in advance (the 1/3) were developing well, secure, confident, making life-plans, and had good relationships. On the other hand, a huge percentage of the kids who ate the first marshmallow (the 2/3) had trouble in school, dropped/failed out, problems with the law, and poor relationships.
My Take-Away - Hrm. Yet another thing I am not too good at - delayed gratification. It's certainly something that I am already working on. Obviously, it's too late to test and see which group I would have been in, but I would guess the 2/3. I still passed school, consider myself mostly secure and successful in my life, and have great relationships with my friends and families. But I struggle with patience. I struggle with waiting. I have a hard time reminding myself that no matter how great this marshmallow might taste right NOW, the two marshmallows will be even better fifteen minutes down the road.
If only all of my waiting were only for fifteen minutes ...
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