{"id":8804,"date":"2017-06-10T13:04:17","date_gmt":"2017-06-10T11:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smolio.ch\/wissen\/eat-the-marshmallow-later-what-sweets-and-retirement-have-to-do-with-each-other\/"},"modified":"2024-09-17T08:36:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T06:36:21","slug":"eat-the-marshmallow-later-what-sweets-and-retirement-have-to-do-with-each-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smolio.ch\/en\/wissen\/eat-the-marshmallow-later-what-sweets-and-retirement-have-to-do-with-each-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Eat the marshmallow later.\nWhat sweets and retirement have to do with each other"},"content":{"rendered":"Lesedauer<\/span> 3<\/span> Minuten<\/span><\/span>

Would you rather have a marshmallow now or two later?
\nIn other words: are you prepared to do without something today in order to have more when you retire?
\nWe want to enjoy life to the full here and now and often find it difficult to save for old age.
\nHow can we still manage to eat the marshmallow later? <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We want it all.
\nNow or later?
\nActually always, but better now.
\nWe remained like children.
\nDo you have children?
\nThen you’ve probably seen this.
\nAnd what do we tell our children then?
\nProbably the same thing we heard from our parents: You have to wait.
\nBe patient… and save.
\nYes, save for later.
\nBecause you can’t always have everything at once.
\nSaving means doing without something now in order to have more of it later.
\nSo it would be sensible to save.
\nConsciously foregoing consumption and <\/span>giving up fun is not always so easy. <\/b>Control yourself?
\nWe can do this to varying degrees, as the marshmallow test shows.  <\/span><\/p>\n

What the marshmallow test says<\/h1>\n

The well-known test examines the ability to defer rewards and has been carried out with hundreds of four-year-old children and later also adults.
\nIn its early days, in the 1960s, a team led by psychologist Walter Mischel conducted experiments on reward deferral with a group of preschool children on the Stanford campus.
\nIn individual sessions, a desirable object – marshmallows, hence the name – was placed in front of the children.
\nThen the experimenter asked: Would you rather have one marshmallow or two?
\nOkay, you like marshmallows.
\nI have to do something quickly.
\nI’ll leave you one marshmallow here.
\nYou can either eat the marshmallow straight away – or you can wait until I come back and then I’ll give you another one. <\/span>Some children grab it immediately, but the majority can control themselves and wait. <\/b>Do you feel like one of the children in the video?\n<\/p>\n

In a study conducted 20 years later, this ability to exercise self-control and to “forgo gratification” revealed exciting correlations.
\nChildren with perseverance in the marshmallow test were rated by their parents as more socially competent, more frustration-tolerant and more successful at school.
\nThey also performed better in the study aptitude test.
\nMischel came to the conclusion that <\/span>characters with strong willpower have a better chance of leading a successful and happy life.<\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n

What you learn from the marshmallow test for your goals<\/h1>\n

Numerous replication studies have confirmed that the ability to defer rewards is associated with later success.
\nAnd you can now use this knowledge to tackle your retirement planning early and see it through.
\nYou need a “cool head”.
\nIn neuroscientific terms, you need to use your conscious, prefrontal cortex and keep the emotional, limbic system in check.
\nThat’s easy to say and not so easy to do.
\nBut <\/span>You can achieve your goals with a few tricks.<\/p>\n

Trick 1: Control what you think<\/h3>\n

If you control your attention to the temptations or “think them away”, your stamina will increase.
\nMischel’s particularly successful children distracted themselves.
\nOut of sight out of mind.
\nThey resisted the temptation by doing something else, looking away, covering the marshmallow, singing. <\/p>\n

Trick 2: Stay patient<\/h3>\n

Patient people incur less debt.
\nThey plan more realistically, don’t succumb to the first temptations, they are future-oriented.
\nAnd generally happier.
\nSo wait and see, the marshmallow will still taste good later. <\/p>\n

Trick 3: Think first, then act<\/h3>\n

If you turn your approach into a plan, you have already taken the first step.
\nIt helps to build a realistic bridge from today to tomorrow: “I’m looking forward to the future reward, but I know that the road to it, the giving up, won’t always be easy. But I can do it.”
\nAnd then set off optimistically: you can do it if you really want to. <\/p>\n

Trick 4: Color in the reward<\/h3>\n

You can visualize the greater reward – your carefree retirement – very concretely and visually and talk down the false reward in the present.
\n“Yes, I could afford it now, but then I’ll miss it later. Then I won’t be able to enjoy my retirement, travel or live carefree – and that’s what I really want.”
\nWith Smolio, we support you in this and give you a preview of the “reward”.
\nSmolio shows you what you can look forward to – more later. <\/p>\n

What you can do right now… With Smolio, you can see how your pension provision is doing.
\nAnd if you’re planning to save more for later, you can simply set up a standing order on your account, for example.
\nThis is a very simple trick to stay on track, limit the temptations of consumption “today” and put money aside for “tomorrow”.
\nIt’s easier that way. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

Sources for reading the marshmallow test<\/p>\n

W. Mischel, Y. Shoda, M. L. Rodriguez: Delay of gratification in children.
\nIn: Science.
\n244, 1989, S. 933-938. <\/p>\n

W. Mischel: The Marshmallow Test: Willpower, Reward Deferral and the Development of Personality, Siedler Verlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-641-11927-0<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Angela L. Duckworth, Eli Tsukayama, Teri A. Kirby : Is It Really Self-Control?
\nExamining the Predictive Power of the Delay of Gratification Task.
\nIn: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Volume: 39 issue: 7, pages: 843-855. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n