Posts Tagged ‘train’

Could the ability to restrain yourself from eating one marshmallow make a difference between struggling through life and the ability to retire wealthy and early? Yes it can, according to a study done in the the 1960′s by Stanford University psychology researcher, Michael Mischel. The study tested 4-year old children’s ability to delay gratification. The researcher then placed a marshmallow in front of the child and gave him/her two options. The child could eat the marshmallow, or he/she could wait until the doctor came back from an errand and the child would receive two marshmallows. Only 1/3 of the children were able to wait until the researcher returned. I read the story in the book Influencer: The power to Change Anything (a book I would highly recommend by the way), but you can also find more details on the story here.

I know, it doesn’t really seem like a big deal right. Well, they followed these kids into their adulthood and it turned out that the children who were able to delay gratification and wait for the second marshmallow were more successful, had high paying jobs, and tended to be more happy people than the ones who choose to eat the marshmallow. Think about it. The ability to delay gratification means you can save and invest when others are spending money on various things they don’t really need, you can control what you eat, make yourself exercise, push yourself through school when others are partying. This one small behavior has the ability to completely change your life. I know, it is much harder than I make it sound. Luckily, according to the book, Influencer, this behavior can be learned. Since the two books have a lot of similar ideas, I would also encourage you to read Made to Stick.

However, in some cases it really is simple. Most people give up on investing and even saving because they feel it is too difficult. But put in the context of the marshmallow story, finance and investing is really not eating one marshmallow so you can have two. You don’t spend your money, put it in some type of investment, and then it becomes more. The behavior that has to change is the “not spending” part. But, as i mentioned in an earlier post, it gets much easier once you get used to it.

Related articles

• one marshmallow, or two? – the marshmallow study, conducted in the 1960’s by stanford university psychology researcher michael mischel,. demonstrated how important self-discipline is to lifelong success. he started his longitudinal study by offering a group of …
• The Marshmellow Test – [Editor’s note: This is an op-ed by Perry Wu, chief executive of BitGravity, a content distribution company, a long-time entrepreneur and former venture capitalist.] I was up in the mountains this past weekend, watching the kids run …

In order to improve my professional skills I have started to try and do as much reading as possible. A number of books, such as Time Power by Brian Tracy and the famous Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki recommend listening to books as a great alternative to reading. I think they are both good in their own ways and both have benefits and disadvantages. I currently have a one way commute of a little over an hour here in Tokyo and have found that Audio works great for me. However, there are a lot of times I wish I had the book to reread certain sections later.

Books

• Can take the material at your own speed
• Some people learn better by reading
• less chance to become distracted
• Easier to mark sections to read again later
• Difficult to read while commuting
• Great as a past time
• Looks good on the shelf
• May be able to finish a book quicker

Audio

• Can listen to it just about anywhere (especially on your commute)
• Generally much cheaper
• Easy to download and take on trips
• certain subjects can be difficult to understand without pictures/diagrams
• Can listen while exercising
• May be better for those who have eye trouble and therefore difficulty reading

I get most of my real books from Amazon and most of my audible books from Audible.com. I have found both to be great and easy to use. Though I still also by books from book stores since I love to look at books.

Related links

• This Week on L-TV: Oct. 12 to Oct. 15 – This digital collection of audio books, e-books, music and videos is now available to anyone …
• ipod to the rescue – libraries are starting to circulate ipods loaded with audio books (see wired news’ library shuffles its collection and michael stephens’ the ipod experiments). what does this mean for audio book distributors? the book standard reports …
• Ways To Obtain Audio Books Online – How Audio Books Can Help You Get The Best From Your Workout Download Audio Books and Enjoy Your Favorite Books without Reading Downloadable Audio Books…