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Do you want to know this secret? It is very simple and consists in the ability to deny yourself pleasure, postponing it for later. In any case, the well-known psychologist and popularizer of science, Joaquim de Posada, is convinced of this.
Joaquim de Posada devoted many years to studying and reproducing the results of the famous experiment, set more than 40 years ago by scientists at Stanford University. In the study, four-year-olds were left alone in a room with a piece of candy on the table. And they promised the children that if after 15 minutes, when the scientists return, the delicacy survives, the children will receive a prize – one more of the same candy.
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- Little secrets of great pleasures
Only every third young test subject managed to resist the temptation and keep the candy intact. But this is only the beginning of the story. For many years after the candy experience, researchers continued to wonder how the participants were doing. And, say, after 15 years, it was stated that the most successful students were those who managed to refuse candy. They were much more popular among their peers, they could boast of great success in love – and so on.
And after 20, and after 30 years, nothing fundamentally changed. These data inspired Joaquim de Posada. He is convinced that the main secret of success is the ability to control yourself and give up small incentives now in order to achieve more significant ones in the future. Joaquim de Posada’s book Don’t Pounce on Marmalade! (“Don’t Eat the Marshmallow… Yet! The Secret to Sweet Success in Work and Life”)* became an international bestseller.
De Posada reveals its main provisions in his lecture at the TED conference. But this lecture is worth watching not only for the sake of his speech. A large part of the speech is occupied by a video recording of a similar experiment, reproduced by the lecturer with the participation of 4-6 year old children in Colombia. Their faces, facial expressions, gestures, their desperate struggle with themselves (and with candy) is simply an unforgettable sight. And in many ways explaining why it is so difficult to achieve success, even if its secret is well known.
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- Do successful women scare men?
http://www.ted.com/talks/joachim_de_posada_says_don_t_eat_the_marshmallow_yet#t-149982 (Для подключения русских субтитров нажмите на вкладку Subtitles справа внизу под окном видео и выберите русский язык.)
* J. de Posada “Do not pounce on marmalade!” (Mann, Ivanov & Ferber, 2011).