On this solo episode of She Doesn't Settle, I discuss the positive impact of delayed gratification, why it leads to success, and how you can start to develop discipline in your own life. I open up the podcast with a brief note on the infamous Marshmallow Experiment, when kids were given a marshmallow and told not to eat it. If they didn't, they were promised another. After tracking the lives of the children from the study for decades, they found that the children who were willing to wait for the second marshmallow ended up being more successful in life. However, being disciplined isn't necessarily innate or easy - as with other aspects of our personality, it's impacted by our environment and lived experiences.

All is not lost if instant gratification seems to be more your style though. We can all hone our ability to be disciplined by starting simple and small. Setting action-oriented, specific, and doable goals makes holding yourself accountable a much easier task. I draw this episode to a close with some thoughts on big ideas, why big actions aren't always the right solution, and how, when we try to tackle the problem by kicking and screaming, the problem tackles us. So join me for today's special episode, and learn how you, too, can become more disciplined and ultimately more successful.

The Finer Details of This Episode:

• The Marshmallow experiment
• Delayed gratification
• Environmental impact
• Discipline
• Starting small and simple
• Accountability partners and calendars

Quotes:

"What they found was super surprising that children who were willing to delay gratification, and waited to receive the second marshmallow ended up having lower levels of substance abuse, a lower likelihood of obesity, better LSAT scores, better responses to stress, higher social skills, and generally just better across the board in terms of life's measurements."

"The children's ability to delay gratification and have that discipline was not something they were born with, but was in fact impacted by environment and the experiences that they had."

"But what we know is that if you want to succeed at something, at some point, you're going to have to develop that ability to be disciplined and to take action, instead of looking to distraction–looking for the easy fix."

"The key here though, is again, make sure the tasks are doable, they're action-oriented and specific."

"We get these big ideas about how big the actions need to be in order to reach the big goal. And that's where we get into trouble."

"The good news is there are ways to become better at delaying gratification. You have to do the work. You have to practice, you have to keep things simple. That's all part of the process. But over time when you see the results and you see the progress, you'll understand why that's so important."

Links:

She Doesn't Settle Podcast

She Doesn't Settle - The Experience

Instagram

One-on-One Coaching & Group Sessions

Marshmallow Experiment

Other references: Very Well Mind; James Clear