04/08/2020
One now, or two later - that is the question researchers wanted to know. A study on instant gratification was subsequently conducted by a Stanford professor, Walter Mischel which became well known as “The Marshmallow Experiment”.
The sample group consisted of young children. A child would be brought into a private room. A marshmallow will be placed in front of them and then an offer is made: The researcher will tell the child that he is going to leave the room for an unspecified amount of time. If the child does not eat the marshmallow during his time of absence, he will be rewarded with a second marshmallow. The researcher then leaves the room for approximately 15 minutes and observes the child’s behaviour on a television screen or a one-way mirror.
As you can imagine it was very difficult for most children to restrain themselves from eating the marshmallow. Some lunged at the treat the moment the researcher left the room. Others were able to restrain themselves a bit before giving in to temptation, while only a few were able to wait out the entire period and be rewarded the second marshmallow.
The study however only proved to be valuable years later with follow-up research on the same individuals was conducted. The findings of the follow-up research indicated that those with an ability to delay gratification were more prone to success in life.
From the experiment, it is clear that a conflict arises in the brain. The two opposing sides can be distinguished between emotional and logical. It is then further clear that the emotional side responds favorably when we give in to instant gratification, while the logical part of your brain will try and reason with you. Hence, when you are presented with an opportunity to have one treat now, or wait and be rewarded with another treat the emotional side will opt for having that marshmallow now. Your logical side on the other hand will reason that if you wait a bit, and be rewarded with a second marshmallow you will be in a better position since, logically, two is better than one.
We can draw a comparison then to our goals whether personal or career-related. If we are presented with an opportunity that is not in line with our goals i.e. go out with friends rather than study for that test tomorrow and react to the impulsive choice your emotional part has triumphed over the logical one.
We can, however, implement what is called delay gratification strategy by a) setting goals, b) create an action plan, c) prioritise and d) reward yourself.
Goal setting, action plans, and rewards are detailed topics that I will deal with in follow-up articles. However, one strategy we can focus on now is how to prioritise.
Staying true to my view of keeping things simple I like to refer to the Urgent Important Matrix. In short, it is a matrix divided into four quadrants namely Q1) urgent and important, Q2) not urgent but important, Q3) urgent but not important and Q4) not urgent and not important.
Q1 tasks should be completed immediately. Q2 tasks should be planned since they are important to be completed but not urgent yet. Therefore, you have the time to plan when they should be completed and how. It is recommended that Q3 tasks be delegated. These items creep up on you and have to be done urgently, however, the ex*****on thereof is not important. Lastly, Q4 items should be avoided at all costs. Examples include mindless scrolling through social media which is taking your time away from giving attention to the more important tasks.
Thus, a positive link has been found between delayed gratification and success. Conflict arises in the brain as the emotional and logical side battle out the possible gains from either decision. Reacting to impulsive decisions means that the emotional side has won the battle. By prioritising tasks, however, we can improve our delayed gratification.
For more on the experiment and the results thereof follow this link - https://jamesclear.com/delayed-gratification
Photo credit: earlychildhoodboston.wordpress.com
