Candy can Dictate Your Life

In a Stanford study about self-control that spanned over 30 years, children were exposed to the famous marshmallow test. They were presented with one marshmallow - a sweet candy - and were told that if they could resist the temptation to eat it for 15 minutes, then they would receive 2 marshmallows as a reward.

Some children ate the marshmallow as soon as the researchers left the room, others resisted for a few minutes but eventually caved, and some made it the whole 15 minutes, often trying to distract themselves with strange methods.

You can check out the video here.

You can see how the children react to temptation, often in hilarious ways.

The children who exercised more self-control were more likely to succeed later in life due to their ability to exercise self-restraint and to prioritize long-term benefits over instant gratification.

They showed higher rates of success in every aspect of life: managing their finances, education, and even their health.

These results seem obvious when you think about it: Self-Discipline is a skill that you need to learn. If you don’t develop it, then you’ll often choose the more instantly gratifying decisions of not eating healthy foods, not taking your medications on time, or shying away from exercise.