A fascinating study was conducted at the University of Stamford some years ago. Four-year-old children were placed in a room, one by one, and a marshmallow was placed in front of them. Each child was told that if they didn’t eat the marshmallow in fifteen minutes, they would get two; but if they ate the marshmallow in front of them, they wouldn’t get another one. Two out of three kids ate the marshmallow. Fifteen years later, there was a follow up to the study and what was found was incredible. Every child that participated in the study and hadn’t eaten the marshmallow was successful and many of the children who had eaten the marshmallow were not doing well at all. Some had dropped out of school, others were not making good grades, and others still were very much in debt.
If you only saved and invested only $5 a day in a mutual fund averaging a 10% yearly return (instead of spent it on junk food, cigarettes or alcohol) from age twenty one to age sixty five, you’d have nearly an extra $1,500,000 at retirement.
The conclusion of the study was that people who are able to delay gratification have a much better chance of being successful in life.
There are marshmallow eaters and marshmallow resisters in our society, but the eaters outnumber the resisters three to one.
This principle is perhaps the only success principle that can be applied by anyone. Even if you don’t apply any other principles, financially at least, you will be successful.
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