The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control for Success

Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn’s CEO, asked me to discuss the premise of the “marshmallow test” in relation to the future success of entrepreneurs and business leaders.

For those unfamiliar with this legendary experiment, in the marshmallow test four-year-olds were given a marshmallow, but told that if they waited seven or eight minutes, they could have two then – not just the one. Fourteen years later, when they were tracked down, those kids who waited turned out to be better learners, more popular, and still able to delay gratification in pursuit of their goals.

That ability to delay gratification hinges on a cognitive skill: concentrating on the good feelings that will come from achieving a goal, and so ignoring tempting distractions. That ability also lets us keep going toward that goal despite frustrations, setbacks, and obstacles. And therein lies its application to entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Every enterprise – particularly a startup – will have rocky times. Successful entrepreneurs often have a history of failures, before their success. Their ability to persist despite frustrations lets them resist the temptation, say, of just taking a secure job. Following their dreams and their own instincts is more important. And that journey will mean many delays of gratification.

What’s interesting to me about entrepreneurs is how they tend to find more gratification in the process of achieving their goals than in the perks that come with financial success. This reminds me of the work on entrepreneurs by my mentor at Harvard, David McClelland. He studied the drive to achieve, which is crucial to entrepreneurial success.

His finding: the money entrepreneurs made was, for many of them, mainly a way to keep score on how they were doing rather than an end in itself.

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Emotional Intelligence author, Daniel Goleman lectures frequently to business audiences, professional groups and on college campuses. A psychologist who for many years reported on the brain and behavioral sciences for The New York Times, Dr. Goleman previously was a visiting faculty member at Harvard.

Dr. Goleman’s most recent books are The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights and Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence – Selected Writings. (More Than Sound). Goleman’s latest project, Leadership: A Master Class, is his first-ever comprehensive video series that examines the best practices of top-performing executives.